Student Essay on The Glass Menagerie, A Production Analysis

Examines the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams. Discusses what effects its visual and musical effects have upon the play. Uses Williams' production notes as a starting point to consider Williams' use of stage directions, music and unusual effects in the play.

'The Glass Menagerie', one of Tennessee Williams' earliest plays, is one of his most recognised and arguably the most autobiographical. It is essentially about a dysfunctional family, focusing on their struggle to cope both reality and one another. Often referred to as a 'memory play', both the style and content of 'The Glass Menagerie' are inspired by the memory of the play's narrator, Tom Wingfield. Although the play is fiction, the audience is presented with truth concealed in illusion and due to the play's origins in memory, it may therefore be presented with unusual freedom from convention.

The production notes that preface the play act as both an introduction to, and justification for, Williams' use of specific dramatic techniques throughout the play. They make it clear that things such as the use of lighting are to draw.....