SUDS Cast Callout: The Glass Menagerie
By Tennessee Williams
1st - 11th March, 2023
The Cellar Theatre

Directed by Danny Yazdani
Produced by Jennifer Shin
Assistant directed by Aqsa Suryana
Assistant produced by Mali Lung
Dramaturged by Luke Mešterović

***

The 20th century saw multiple mass moves in immigration to Australia, so this rendition of The Glass Menagerie will look at exactly that: the ‘ethnic other’ in the Anglo-sphere of Australia. However, it moves beyond the traditional migrant story and unravels the aftermath of having settled down in a host country for several years. Amanda, an overbearing, histrionic mother, attempts to control the lives of her children and fulfil her dreams through them. Her eldest, Tom, has other plans, wanting to separate from his family and realise his identity on his own terms. And Laura, Tom’s sister, is subjugated to pressures from both sides as they battle out the future of their small, displaced family. The entrance of a ‘gentleman caller’, Jim O’Connor, acts as a trigger point for the family’s downfall. Ultimately, Williams tells a story of intergenerational trauma, untouched desires, and the versions of self-existing. Whilst being truthful to the original text, the showrunners wish to use canonical texts for a contemporary and all-inclusive audience.

CAST ROLES

*** Casting will NOT be race or gender blind. We are looking for a complete team of cast and crew who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) or as coming from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. We leave to auditionees and interviewees to decide what ethnic-Australian means to them and their identity, but ultimately we want to create a safe space for those who remain the minority in the theatre space and wider context. If you have any questions in regard to this criteria, please reach out to the team. ***

** TOM WINGFIELD (a son)
The narrator of the play. A poet with a job in a warehouse. His nature is not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity.

Director’s Note: Tom should be charismatic and likeable,a semi-every-man until the very end of the play. His aspirations speak for the thousands of second-generation immigrants, the children of those who could not fulfil their wishes and (unconsciously) suffocate their descendants in its place.

** AMANDA WINGFIELD (a mother)
A little woman of great but confused vitality clinging frantically to another time and place. Her characterisation must be carefully created, not copied from type. She is not paranoic, but her life is paranoia. There is much to admire in Amanda, and as much to love and pity are there is to laugh at. Certainly she has endurance and a kind of heroism, and though her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel at times, there is tenderness in her slight person.

Director’s Note: We are wanting the actor playing Amanda to portray her with an accent of some kind, preferably one that exists in the actor’s cultural community.

** LAURA WINGFIELD (a daughter)
Amanda, having failed to establish contact with reality, continues to live vitally through her illusions, but Laura’s situation is even graver. A childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than the other, and held in a brace. This defect need not be more than suggested on stage. Stemming from this, Laura’s separation increases till she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf.

Director’s Note: The fragility that is inherent in Laura’s character is not only defined by what Williams wrote as ‘crippled’. Her fear of life comes from a simultaneous intergenerational trauma and sheltering from the outside, white world. We would love for a creative with a disability to play this role to stay true to Laura. However, if we are not able to find such a person, the actor playing Laura will consult with the team to make sure her portrayal is respectful and not caricatured.

** JIM O’CONNOR (the gentleman caller)
A nice, ordinary, young man.

Director’s Note: Williams left a lot of room for interpretation with Jim’s character. Fundamentally, he is the destroyer of the bubble that surrounds the Wingfield household, but he does not fulfil this task with hatred.

AUDITION SLOTS

Auditions will run for approximately 15 minutes. Please fill out the expression of interest form below, and we will email you with a specific time for your audition. We would like you to prepare for ONE of the provided monologues to perform during your audition. Memorisation is encouraged but not compulsory.

Expression of interest - cast: https://forms.gle/KN7cipbB4qwsLBxu5
Expression of interest - production: https://forms.gle/58AFQQZfqhkGZNxL8
Monologues: https://docs.google.com/.../1PNEMXgH2kKEUxO9nVvkIfIN.../edit

CONTENT WARNINGS

Herbal cigarette use
References to death and trauma
Ableist language
References to culturally sensitive experiences

For any questions, please contact Danny (Director) or Jen (Producer) at sudsmenagerie@gmail.com. We hope to see you soon!