The Glass Menagerie (Penguin plays & screenplays)

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SET IN ST LOUIS DURING THE DEPRESSION, THE GLASS MENAGERIE IS ONE OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' MOST POWERFUL AND MOVING PLAYS. ABANDONED BY HER HUSBAND WHEN HE 'FELL IN LOVE WITH LONG DISTANCES', AMANDA WINGFIELD COMFORTS HERSELF WITH RECOLLECTIONS OF HER EARLIER, MORE GRACIOUS, LIFE IN BLUE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE WAS PURSUED BY 'GENTLEMAN CALLERS'. HER SON TOM, A POET WITH A JOB IN A WAREHOUSE, LONGS FOR ADVENTURE AND ESCAPE FROM HIS MOTHER'S SUFFOCATING EMBRACE. LAURA, HER SHY CRIPPLED DAUGHTER, HAS HER GLASS MENAGERIE AND HER MEMORIES. AMANDA IS DESPERATE TO FIND HER DAUGHTER A HUSBAND, BUT WHEN THE LONG-AWAITED GENTLEMAN CALLER DOES ARRIVE, LAURA'S ROMANTIC ILLUSIONS ARE FINALLY CRUSHED. MIRRORING THE QUIET DESPAIR OF THE THIRTIES, THE GLASS MENAGERIE IN ITS NOSTALGIA FOR A PAST WORLD AND ITS EVOCATION OF LONELINESS AND LOST LOVE CELEBRATES, ABOVE ALL, THE HUMAN NEED TO DREAM.