Blog Prompt #5 The Glass Menagerie

Blog Prompt #5 The Glass Menagerie

Wan-Ting Lin

In this play “The Glass Menagerie,” the playwright Tennessee Williams uses the device of the “memory play” to present this drama, trying to build an unrealistic atmosphere on the stage. Unlike other playwrights, he devotes himself to focusing on not only the script but also the setting of the play. He skillfully uses the screen, the music, and the lighting to keep with the atmosphere of memory, making the audience get into the special feeling of characters’ emotions. By using the unrealistic setting, the playwright tries to present a realistic portrait of a poor family during the depression era which is totally different from other realistic dramas.   

The setting is very important in this play. In scene one, the prologue takes a big part in order to prepare a suited atmosphere for the drama. Also, the prologue works as the guidance for actors to follow, helping them get into the characters’ moods easily. The impressive feature of the setting is the transparency. The playwright sets a transparent wall along with the transparent gauze portieres, and the movements of the characters’ are also somehow transparent. By using the transparent food and utensils, the characters need to pretend that they are using the real things in the performance. This “transparency” also relates to the transparent glass animals which Laura loves to look at. The transparent things symbolize the unrealistic memory which widely appears in this play. This memory as the main focus of the play also relates to the playwright’s own experience. That is, this play indeed is the reminiscent of Tennessee Williams’ family story.

Legend on screen: “After the fiasco—“

Tom speaks from the fire escape landing.

Tom: After the fiasco at Rubicam’s Business College, the idea of getting a gentlemen caller for Laura began to play a more and more important part in Mother’s calculations. It became an obsession. Like some archetype of the universal unconscious, the image of the gentlemen caller haunted our small apartment….

(Screen image: A young man at the door of a house with flowers.)

….

(Screen image: The cover of a glamor magazine.)

(Amanda enters with the telephone on a long extension cord. She is spotlighted in the dim stage.)

….

(The scene dims out.)

(Legend on screen: “You think I’m in love with Continental Shoemakers?”)

(Before the lights come up again, the violent voices of Tom and Amanda are heard. They are quarreling behind the portieres. In front of them stands Laura with clenched hands and panicky expression. A clear pool of light is on her figure throughout this scene.)

In scene three, Williams uses the light and the screen a lot in order to present a nostalgic feeling to the audience. The function of the screen can be seen as the guide for audience to follow. In this scene, the character Tom acts as the narrator of the play as well, telling the background story to the audience. The screen changes because of the description of his narration. It not only shows the background information of the story, but the playwright also uses it to represent the characters’ inner thoughts. This stage application “the screen” is an innovation of the performance at that time, and it influences the later plays as well. As to the using of the light, it makes the drama more unrealistic because of the color on the stage influence the mood of the audience. The dim stage gives a nostalgic feeling in the play, representing an old story of the family. The use of the spotlight makes audience easier to follow the aim on the stage, which can be related to the memory as well.

The playwright’s purpose of using the innovation device is to present a different thinking method to the audience. He tries to create a new theater which matches his plays in order to persuade a better quality of his drama. Also, the background of Tennessee Williams influenced his career a lot. The great depression and his family situation make him think about the helplessness and the loneliness of human beings. That may be the reason why he tries to make a sensational setting to present the true feeling of unrealistic memory.