The Glass Menagerie, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

The irony should not be lost on anyone who goes along to see this moving and thought-provoking reworking of the play which announced Tennessee Williams' arrival as one of the consummate playwrights of the Twentieth Century.

A haunting study of a family effectively trapped in a world none of them want to be in, life is anything but paradise.

The Royal Exchange has never been afraid to break from tradition and the imaginative staging, fabulous use of a musical score which runs behind the piece for its entirety and creative direction from Atri Banerjee frees up a classic from any constraints.

Although set in 1937, this version is effectively timeless and packs an emotional punch which will resonate with a modern audience.

Geraldine Somerville in The Glass Menagerie (Picture: Marc Brenner)

Amanda Wingfield, brilliantly played by Geraldine Somerville, is a mother who can't come to terms with the life fate has dealt her. In her younger days this Southern Belle was feted by a constant stream of 'gentlemen callers' and seemed destined for the high life.

Reality proved otherwise. A long gone husband has left her in an apartment struggling to make ends meet. Her son Tom is a dreamer and would-be writer who is wasting his life in a shoe warehouse.

Geraldine Somercille returns to The Glass Menagerie after 33 years

Daughter Laura is introverted in the extreme. Her disability has made her turn her back on the world preferring the company of her father's old records and her collection of glass animals.

Amanda is a woman on the edge, as vulnerable as one of the many glass ornaments in Laura's collection. Geraldine Somerville captures her brittleness, her mood swinging from almost childlike glee to deep despair born out of frustration.

She is both immensely vulnerable and deeply disturbing. She's a major challenge for whoever plays her; it would be all too easy to turn her into a caricature. But in her return to the stage, Geraldine Somerville carries it off with aplomb leaving us sympathetic to her and, at times, appalled by her in equal measure.

Joshua James' Tom is the laconic narrator of the piece looking back at a painful period of his life. It's made even more poignant when you realise how autobiographical The Glass Menagerie is and that Tom is effectively Tennessee Williams reflecting on his own life.

From the outset Tom challenges us to determine what is truth and what is half remembered fiction; the play is all about memory - what do we choose to remember, what would we rather forget?

Joshua James is full of sullen defiance portraying a character at his wits' end who just wants to escape.

Joshua James and Rhiannon Clements in The Glass Menagerie (Picture: Marc Brenner)

As Laura Rhiannon Clement is arguably the most intriguing presence on stage. She cowers under the shadow of the revolving sign; her facial expressions are revealing and moving and an imaginary dance scene with would-be suitor Jim to a thumping Whitney Houston soundtrack is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

By casting a black actor - Eloka Ivo - as Jim, Atri Banerjee has added an extra dimension to an already multi-layered production. And as with the three other members of the cast, he gives another near faultless performance as the one person who can see Laura for the special person she is and yet ....

Originally scheduled before 2020 before being scuppered by the pandemic, this is a production worth waiting for.

A word too about the flawless American accents, so often the Achilles' hell of many a production.

Tennessee Williams' plays have become a staple for many theatres. With this imaginative and captivating interpretation, the Royal Exchange has come up with something which while doing the majestic writing full justice, also offers so much more. There are so many layers and strands you can take away; so many subtle references to hope, despair, ambition, shattered dreams, disability. It's a production that will stay with you long after the last flicker of that giant neon sign.

The Glass Menagerie runs until Saturday, October 8. Details from www.royalexchange.co.uk