The Name Game: THEATRE

Last year I was in London with my uncle, who had booked tickets for us to go see some shows while I was in town. Of these, my most highly anticipated was definitely a production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at the Duke of York Theatre, starring Hollywood mainstay Amy Adams as the iconic southern matriarch Amanda Wingfield. I was a fan of Adams’ screen work in films such as Arrival and Nocturnal Animals (and of course the indisputable classic that is Enchanted), and was excited to see what she would bring to such a famous character.

But as we left the Duke of York auditorium for intermission, my uncle and I locked eyes and immediately agreed on one thing:

“Amy Adams is particularly poor, isn’t she?”

Critical reviews of the show were only slightly less harsh than our own, and could be summed up as decidedly mixed regarding Adams’ performance. It wasn’t necessarily that her jovial and chipper take on such a commonly nasty character was totally off base: in fact, it could have been downright compelling given the chance. It was that she seemed dead set on delivering each line in one mode and tone that she couldn’t get out, stuck carrying the energy of a bad first take throughout an entire live show.

It was certainly disappointing to see such an accomplished screen actor fall flat in the theatre, no less because the marketing had leaned upon Adams so heavily: the poster for the show was just a massive superimposed image of her face. But it wasn’t entirely her fault that the show was lacking, as the direction of scenes and other performances failed to create a strong sense of identity separate from other versions of the play. The billing of a famous A list actor was indisputably the most interesting thing about it.

This is not, however, an uncommon dilemma. Particularly in the aftermath of COVID as theatres attempt to pull audiences back in, more and more productions are turning to what has