Returning home for his State Theatre Company South Australia debut, Laurence Boxhall brings a wonderful wealth of knowledge to The Glass Menagerie.
Laurence was most recently seen as Gollum in the National tour of The Lord of the Rings – a Musical Tale, for which he received outstanding reviews. 2024 saw Laurence star opposite Toni Scanlon in Ensemble Theatre’s two-hander Switzerland, directed by Shaun Rennie, as well as producing and starring in the critically acclaimed Milked at Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs, directed by Iain Sinclair. He followed this with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (GWB/Red Stitch) and Hamlet (Melbourne Shakespeare Company). A skilled magician, he was then the sleight-of-hand consultant for Melbourne Theatre Company’s (MTC) Topdog/Underdog. Other theatre credits include As You Like It and Shakespeare in Love (MTC); Jumpy (MTC and Sydney Theatre Company) and the 70th Anniversary tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (Crossroads Live).
Currently, Laurence is starring alongside three other incredible actors in The Glass Menagerie.
The Glass Menagerie is set in the 1930s in a small apartment in St Louis. The story follows the interactions between Amanda Wingfield and her two children, Tom and Laura. When a gentleman caller visits, Amanda’s alternative motives come into play. The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’ semi-autobiographical evocation of loneliness and lost love, is one of his most powerful and moving plays: an unforgettable American classic.
Laurence spoke to Glam Adelaide about The Glass Menagerie, how he prepares to take on a new role and what it was like taking on such a physically demanding character as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings – a Musical Tale?
“It was hugely exciting, which is why I decided to do it – you never know if you’ll ever get the opportunity to do something like this again. I was a huge fan of the books and the movies growing up. I vividly remember listening to the Hobbit audiobook on car rides as well. With the musical it was a lot of work getting my body physically ready to be on all fours and to be able to move on my fingertips and crawl. Having to do that so intensely over the rehearsal process and then eight times a week… It required a lot of physio. I also needed to shave my head every day and cover my body in body paint and black teeth and veins and cuts and mud. It was so much fun but very demanding.”
Over the years, Laurence has played a vast array of different characters. We asked him about his approach to preparing for a character in the lead up to rehearsals.
“I have a little bit of a very gentle through line that establishes some consistency, but then it depends from role to role. For example, I always try to be off book or as close to being off book before we even get into the rehearsal room. That way you can actually start looking people in the eye, you can start listening and you can start formulating tactics that you want to play on other people. I try to learn the lines as blankly as I can without forming any opinions. I like to add all of those elements when I’m in the rehearsal room.”
For any actor, The Glass Menagerie is an incredible play. Laurence shared with Glam Adelaide what drew him to this production.
“It’s sort of a running theme I’ve had in my acting career. I’ve been very lucky over the last few years to do bucket list roles. I’ve always wanted to do The Glass Menagerie, so when the opportunity came up I leapt at the chance. The play is sensational. The characters are so multifaceted and they are beautifully fleshed out in the script. It’s relevant today just as much as it was when it was first written.”
Laurence is joined by three other incredible cast members in The Glass Menagerie: Ksenja Logos as Amanda Wingfield, Kathryn (Kitty) Adams as Laura Wingfield and Jono Darby as the mystery guest. This production is directed by Shannon Rush.
“Genuinely, it’s been one of the nicest rehearsal rooms I have ever been in. It’s been so relaxed, it feels like a family. Getting to work with such an incredible cast for my State Theatre Company South Australia debut was wonderful.”
The Glass Menagerie is currently playing to rave reviews at The Odeon Theatre, Norwood.
“For those who are familiar with The Glass Menagerie, they’ll get to experience it with potentially more facets of it directly relating to how we’re living at the moment in the Zeitgeist. It’s potentially more pertinent than it’s been in a while. I’m excited for audiences to see characters played by actors who you know are very different from roles that they’ll have seen them play in the past. I’m excited for them to see Jono Darby on his main stage debut. I hope they just enjoy the ride because it’s a beautiful, funny, awful, heart wrenching and difficult ride.”
The Glass Menagerie
Presented by State Theatre Company South Australia
Odeon Theatre, Norwood
15 November – 7 December 2025
https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/the-glass-menagerie/
Read our 5-star review of The Glass Managerie HERE
Photo credit: Matt Byrne
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