My second comments

The Children's Hour:

http://anonymouslyanalyzingampleautographs.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-childrens-hour.html?showComment=1383743236628#c5443042956385888632

Eurydice:

http://purplesummer2130.blogspot.com/2013/11/eurydice.html?showComment=1383743683128#c1380841646374874250


Eurydice:

http://anonymouslyanalyzingampleautographs.blogspot.com/2013/11/eurydice.html?showComment=1383744174258#c926746940330149120

Glass of Water"

http://jstaff6.blogspot.com/2013/10/glass-of-water.html?showComment=1383744739332#c5584170168502210834

Love! Valour! Compassion!

http://morgansthtr2130blog.blogspot.com/2013/10/love-valour-compassion-response.html?showComment=1383745150639#c7586639073759936170

Show and tell post II

      Play is called The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams.  It was written in the summer to 1944 with the original title of The Gentlemen Caller.   It was only after Eddie Dawling Decided to produce the play that the title was changed to The Glass Menagerie.  It premiered in Chicago on December 26, 1944 and later opened in New York on March 31, 1945 (page 1032).  It won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1945. The play can be found in the book called, “Tennessee Williams Play 1937-1955.

     There are four main characters in this play. They are Amanda Wingfield (the mother), Laura Wingfield (the daughter), Tom Wingfield (the son), and Jim O’Conner (the gentlemen caller).  Tom also acts as the narrator and addresses the audience. The play opens with Tom’s narration explaining that this is a memory play.  He also explains that there is a “fifth” character which is a picture of the father that is prominently displayed in the room.   Amanda enters and they argue quite often throughout the play.  Laura is very shy and involved with the world of her glass menagerie of animals.   Tom is always trying to find a way of leaving and he finally does at the end.  Amanda wants to see if she can find a husband for Laura.  She also lives in the past when she had many gentlemen callers.  Laura had been crippled from having pleurisy when she was a child. She and Tom knew Jim when they were in high school.  Tom invites Jim to dinner in the hopes that a relationship will grow with Laura.  Laura show Jim her Menagerie and one of the animals get broken when they are dancing.  Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to the rest, Jim is already engaged. At the end, Amanda comforts Laura and Tom leaves for the Merchant Marines.

     One dramaturgical choice is having Tom break the “fourth wall” with his narration.  Tennessee Williams may have made this choice to include the audience in on the “dream” or a “memory.” He had very specific stage directions including having a scrim in the front of the stage where you could barely see the set behind.  He also wrote that the scrim is raised just after Tom’s opening narration to represent the dream or memory being revealed.  It is all part of an illusion. Even Tom says in the script, “I give you the truth in the pleasant disguise of an illusion.” (Page 400)    He narrates again at the beginning of scene III when he describes Mother’s plans and imagination on how she can find a gentlemen caller for Laura.  At the beginning of scene VI, he talks about Jim and how he is going to bring him home for dinner.  All of these incidents of the narration give us the back-story of what has not happened on stage.  Finally at the end, he narrates what has happened after the story on stage is over. The stage direction says that the final interior scene should be viewed as through a sound-proof glass as Tom says his final speech.

     Another dramaturgical choice would be one of Hornsby’s terms of duration.  The time that Amanda and Tom spend arguing and discussing different situations takes up most of the stage time whereas the time that Laura has on stage with Jim is only one or two scenes.  Even though the play is called “The Glass Menagerie” which you would think is about Laura and her glass, Amanda and Tom on the other hand  have most of the lines in the play.

Source:

Williams, Tennessee. Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955. New York: Literay Classic of the

            United States, 2000. Print. Compiled  and with notes by Mel Gussow and Kenneth

            Holdrich

Eurydice

“I will always remember your melody!”  That would be one of the quotes from the play I would choose for the line on the poster.  This quote comes from the first part of the play when Orpheus says that to Eurydice. The reason I picked that is because music seems to be a part of the whole production.   Orpheus creates the music for Eurydice which helps tie the two of them together after Eurydice dies. With the phrase “always remember,” it shows that the characters always need to remember who they are and where they are.  For example, when Eurydice crosses the river, she forgets who she is, doesn’t realize where she is, or that the man who helps her is her father.  After some time and with the help of her father, she begins to remember. This would give the production a more light-hearted feel even though it has a lot to do with dead people.  It would not be so morbid.  As far as the poster goes, you could have a picture of Eurydice’s head and the strands of her hair could be flowing out and become the shapes of musical notes or some sort of instrument.

Another quote would be, “No one knocks at the door of the dead!  This was spoken by “The Stones” who wondering who was knocking at the door.  This quote is at the end of the second movement and spoken by the stones. The reason I pick this one is because the script has a lot of people either trying to get out of the underworld or trying to get it.  Eurydice is always trying to get out and Orpheus is trying to get in.  Death is all around.  This gives the production a dark and eerie feel.  It could become more of a creepy horror movie.  A good poster for this would have a picture of a distressed door with a person’s hand ready to knock on it. On the other side could be a dark place with three sets of red glowing eyes peering around it.

Love! Valour! Compassion!

A historian would look at this play and wonder what happened to our society.  That is, if he thought that the play represented what life was like in our century.   As far as being a well made play, it may be very confusing in comparison to The Glass of Water and The Children’s Hour. Yes, it has three acts and those “one liners” that left you hanging at the end of each scene.  Much of the dialogue seem petty and didn't make a point such as when they are arguing about what they want to watch on television. 

  

The difference between the “truth” and illusion is hard to separate.   The part when James closes his eyes, the piano stops, he is looking at the chair, and now he is John, is very confusing.  Is this real, a hallucination, or is it really John? What is the truth and what is the illusion? Then all of a sudden John is sitting in the chair?  Maybe, this was James’s way of justifying how his parents treated him and John.    Is he really “James the Good” and his brother is “John the Bad?”

This play was confusing to me and I lived through the 90’s.  Every once in a while the characters would move forward and talk or narrate to the audience which was confusing to me.  I guess this was the biggest difference from the other well-made plays that we have read.   I found very distracting from the standpoint of keeping up with what was happing.  It wasn’t until the end that it made more sense, especially when each character was telling the audience how they died.  As a dramaturgical choice, it helped to bring a close to the story.  I also liked the last line when John says, “Anyway.”

The Children's Hour

I think the biggest departure of the well made play would be the scene when Martha kills herself.  That was totally unexpected.  In the obligatory scene in this case, you would expect Karen and/or Martha to admit to their feelings for each other.  Martha does admit that she had the kind of feelings she had been accused of.  That was expected, however I didn't expect she would kill herself over it.  It is a good dramaturgical because when Mrs. Tilford comes to confess and apologize to them about Mary’s lying, the news of Martha’s death further makes Mrs. Tilford feels guilty.  Now she wants to help Karen and says, “Take whatever I can give you. Take it for yourself and use it for yourself.”   She is trying to justify her mistake in believing Mary.

As far as the other question goes as to whether it should be performed today or not, I would say yes.  I don’t think it has to do with the subject of lesbianism as much as a mis-communication between the characters.   Mary was a very spoiled and manipulating. She is the one that causes all the problems.  It doesn’t matter if Martha and Karen are in a relationship or not.  The fact that a spoiled child could get so much control over people is a good topic for today’s society.   Most of the play is about how Mary uses people and their emotions.  For example, she arrives late to class and brings flowers to the teacher to cover up her unwillingness to go to class.  She “faints” to get attention, talks Rosalie into lying to hide the secret about the bracelet.   As far as the suicide goes, I think it was more of Mary’s manipulation that could cause Martha to commit suicide.   Mary’s accusations put the idea of the women kissing into Martha’s head.  Yes, maybe that brought out the feelings that Martha had, but Martha may have never even thought much about that until Mary’s accusation. 

A Glass of Water

I don’t know if it’s a translation error or not, but in the scene at the end when the Duchess and Bolingbroke kiss and then slap each other is very odd.   When I read it, it really surprised me.  I was not expecting that. They are at each other’s throats though out the whole play.  They are both scheming and plotting against each other and trying to discredit each other.  All of a sudden at the end they are kissing each other?  They are telling each other that they would have wed if they had known each other earlier.   That doesn't make sense, unless it was an attempt by the author to bring some comedy to the end of the production.   I would have guessed that they would have politely bowed to each other and left.  They could have said their lines while smiling, not meaning what they were saying and left without the kissing and slapping.  Of course, that may not have been as effective or funny.

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