Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie"

So, I won tickets to go the Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. I've lived in Manchester for five years now but I'm ashamed to say that this was my first time at this theatre even though I must pass it every day.

It's a modern arena theatre set inside a much older historical building. Looking around, there are photographs of previous productions and famous performers and I spotted my favourite Vanessa Redgrave and Ian McKellan amongst many others. I have to say, we were very well looked after by the staff when we arrived. They gave me a programme when I went to pick up the tickets, then they invited us back for drinks during the interval. It was all very chichi.

I'd never seen this play before but I've always like Tennessee Williams and I had an idea what it was about. What I hadn't realised is that there are only four characters in the play but I really liked the intimacy and focus on these four people. What I also loved was the setting. I always prefer a theatre in the round as opposed to a traditional proscenium theatre as you feel so much closer to the action when there's no barrier between you and the actors.

All the actors were excellent, especially when you consider that they had to use a Southern American accent throughout. I saw a clip of Brenda Blethyn rehearsing on local telly last week and her accent then was very Elizabeth Taylor, very full-on, but fortunately she'd toned it down considerably for the performance I saw. I really liked the humour that the actors managed to bring out. It's an old play and in a couple of places the pacing was admittedly slow, but they still brought a reality to the characters and made it relevant and towards the end it was very touching.

Age Appropriate recommended - they should stick that on the theatre bill!

OMG I won something!

Yes, I won tickets to the theatre! I was reading the newspaper at work today and spotted a phone-in competition to get tickets to the new production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie which opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester today. Anyway, I'd been planning to go since reading about it a few months ago and had mentioned it to friends and no one seem particularly interested, but I rang up anyway and left my name and number, then promptly forgot all about it.

After I got back from my lunchtime swim, my colleagues were very excited for me and told me that I'd actually won. Oh, I never win anything so I'm chuffed to bits with this. I was thinking about who to take with me but since no one I'd asked had shown any enthusiasm, I decided to be a good son and invited my Mom. Yes, I know - what could possibly be gayer than taking your Mom to a Tennessee Williams play?

I'm going next week so expect my first theatre review soon after!