Stage Directions
Many plays do not require elaborate stage directions because it's not always important to the play's structure. In Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, however, stage directions are essential to the understanding of the play. The play had a number of stage directions but all contributed immensely to show the reader and or audience what exactly was going on. The stage directions and use of spectacle in The Glass Menagerie intensify the somewhat unrealistic setting and help show certain elements like characters appearances, mood, foreshadowing, and emphasize key events. Describing characters' appearances and presenting messages upon the screen, the stage directions foreshadow and emphasize events. For example, Tom standing on the fire escape looking "like a voyager" (Scene 1)
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foreshadows his escape to the Merchant Marines. Also, the description of Laura as "a piece of translucent glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting" (Scene 2) foreshadows Laura's brush with self-confidence that leaves as quickly as it comes. Laura had many issues both physical and mental. Laura had a limp and was socially awkward which made finding men for her difficult. Finally, the screen images also foreshadow and emphasize events. For example the screen legend that says "Plans and Provisions" (Scene 1) foreshadows Amanda's plan to find her daughter a husband and emphasizes Amanda's sense of duty to protect her family. Amanda was a pushy women and she pushed to find Laura a man. Sometimes her sense of duty to protect the family became to be too much for both Laura and mainly Tom. The screen in The Glass Menagerie helped paint a picture in the readers mind which helped with understanding what was going on in the play. The lighting and pictures within the play help create the unrealistic scene for the memory. Lighting may not seem all that important but when having a gloomy scene bright lights like sunshine do not set the authors intended mood. Tennessee Williams mastered the art of lighting and the use of the screen in the play. In the beginning of the play Tom says "Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings" (Scene 1). Throughout the play the stage directions call for "a turgid smokey red glow," "gloomy gray" lighting and "deep blue dusk" which help create the blurry images of a memory. Stage directions can make or break a production.
The stage directions in the play helped develop the characters almost as much as the dialogue did. The night the gentleman caller, Tim, comes to the house for dinner Amanda "wears a girlish frock of yellowed voile with a blue silk sash. She carries a bunch of jonquils--the legend of her youth is nearly revived" (Scene 5). Although the stage directions show how Amanda cannot face reality, they leave the audience and or reader with a sense of admiration for Amanda and her attempt to protect her family. The development of Amanda in the play shows she came along way and even though she was self absorbed she wanted the best for her children. Another character that developed a lot throughout the play was Laura. Laura's character went from being a shy girl who played with glass animals to being a girl who danced the night away with her crush. Although the stage directions said that she hadn't totally came out of her shell after that. Without the directions written it would be hard for the audience and or reader to see that. Tennessee did a great job with having detailed stage directions contribute as much to the play as the dialogue
did. The stage directions in The Glass Menagerie are as important to the theme of the play as the dialogue itself. Without the stage directions describing the lighting, the costumes, and the characters' actions, a different message could have been conveyed. Without the creative stage directions the play might seem too realistic to be a memory. Without certain actions of Amanda and Laura, the audience and or reader might believe that Laura has come out of her shell for good or that Amanda is simply an overprotective mother who cannot face reality. Yet, with the elaborate stage directions, Tennessee Williams creates a spectacle, distinctive memory play with each character tragically failing to reach his or her goals.
foreshadows his escape to the Merchant Marines. Also, the description of Laura as "a piece of translucent glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting" (Scene 2) foreshadows Laura's brush with self-confidence that leaves as quickly as it comes. Laura had many issues both physical and mental. Laura had a limp and was socially awkward which made finding men for her difficult. Finally, the screen images also foreshadow and emphasize events. For example the screen legend that says "Plans and Provisions" (Scene 1) foreshadows Amanda's plan to find her daughter a husband and emphasizes Amanda's sense of duty to protect her family. Amanda was a pushy women and she pushed to find Laura a man. Sometimes her sense of duty to protect the family became to be too much for both Laura and mainly Tom. The screen in The Glass Menagerie helped paint a picture in the readers mind which helped with understanding what was going on in the play. The lighting and pictures within the play help create the unrealistic scene for the memory. Lighting may not seem all that important but when having a gloomy scene bright lights like sunshine do not set the authors intended mood. Tennessee Williams mastered the art of lighting and the use of the screen in the play. In the beginning of the play Tom says "Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings" (Scene 1). Throughout the play the stage directions call for "a turgid smokey red glow," "gloomy gray" lighting and "deep blue dusk" which help create the blurry images of a memory. Stage directions can make or break a production.
The stage directions in the play helped develop the characters almost as much as the dialogue did. The night the gentleman caller, Tim, comes to the house for dinner Amanda "wears a girlish frock of yellowed voile with a blue silk sash. She carries a bunch of jonquils--the legend of her youth is nearly revived" (Scene 5). Although the stage directions show how Amanda cannot face reality, they leave the audience and or reader with a sense of admiration for Amanda and her attempt to protect her family. The development of Amanda in the play shows she came along way and even though she was self absorbed she wanted the best for her children. Another character that developed a lot throughout the play was Laura. Laura's character went from being a shy girl who played with glass animals to being a girl who danced the night away with her crush. Although the stage directions said that she hadn't totally came out of her shell after that. Without the directions written it would be hard for the audience and or reader to see that. Tennessee did a great job with having detailed stage directions contribute as much to the play as the dialogue
did. The stage directions in The Glass Menagerie are as important to the theme of the play as the dialogue itself. Without the stage directions describing the lighting, the costumes, and the characters' actions, a different message could have been conveyed. Without the creative stage directions the play might seem too realistic to be a memory. Without certain actions of Amanda and Laura, the audience and or reader might believe that Laura has come out of her shell for good or that Amanda is simply an overprotective mother who cannot face reality. Yet, with the elaborate stage directions, Tennessee Williams creates a spectacle, distinctive memory play with each character tragically failing to reach his or her goals.