The actors are left rather stranded by [the] bare-bones approach. It’s a set-up that might work better in a more intimate venue, but isn’t terribly well suited to a West End house.
Read more

It’s a humane and even beautiful take on a classic play. But ‘The Glass Menagerie’ is one of the greatest plays ever written, and this production lacks its full, devastating potential.
Read more

I loved [Amy Adams'] performance. It’s clear, simple, believable, and quietly heart-breaking. Hats off to Adams for taking a leap in the dark for the summer season. Still, it’s not quite the stuff of fairy tales.
Read more

I can see Herrin’s production working in a small, studio setting, where the younger actors would shine. But as a West End star vehicle, it barely passes its MOT.
Read more

The Glass Menagerie is typically funny as well as tragic, but this production is light on laughter. That’s mostly down to Adams, who delivers a likeable but underpowered performance. This staging lacks the vigour to fully hit home.
Read more

The casting of the Hollywood luminary Amy Adams .... may be the main selling point. Whether the gambit works is another matter. The details are stylishly assembled but they fail to carry the evening.
Read more

Herrin is keen not to turn memory into something beautiful and elegiac, but restrained and uncomfortable instead. Sometimes it just feels off-pitch, aiming for a high note it doesn’t quite reach.
Read more

Adams’s West End debut is solid but unremarkable. Under the direction of Jeremy Herrin, the first half feels flat-footed. One of the biggest problems is the size of the stage, which looks vast and works against the intimacy of this story.
Read more