The Glass Menagerie -- moving masterpiece or sentimental sludge?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 4:55pm

We were discussing THE GLASS MENAGERIE in class today, particularly about Tennessee Williams' original script (the one you can get in stores) versus the acting version, which omits Williams' captions. My professor is of the opinion that the captions are important to distance the audience from the action onstage and to view it more critically (very Brechtian), while without the captions the play is just a sentimental soap opera.

Maybe I have a penchant for the sentimental, but I've always loved the melodrama of THE GLASS MENAGERIE. I was a little taken aback by her views, since the play is so rarely performed as Williams originally imagined it. What do you all think?

Updated On: 2/25/05 at 04:55 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:06pm

Your professor sounds like an asshole.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:11pm

No no, she's a well-respected expert in modern drama and even edited the Modern Drama journal for a number of years. She holds Williams in a very high regard, which is why she's never understood why THE GLASS MENAGERIE is not performed as Williams originally intended it, with self-reflective (and often ironic) captions and images projected onto a screen.

I disagree with her, but I'd like to hear your points, as avid theatregoers. What is your opinion on Williams' original captions, and why do you think they were abandoned, yet preserved in the published edition of the play?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:14pm

I still don't understand what you're talking about.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:15pm

Wow, Magruder, you're an avid teenager again!

[magruder]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:22pm

Yeah, she edits drama journals and criticizes masterworks, while Tennessee Williams writes The Glass Menagerie at the age of 34. F*CK her and the horse she rode in on.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:25pm

Why the anger? Is it just me, or did his teacher criticize NOTHING?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:28pm

I still don't understand what you're talking about.

The play, as published, features stage directions that describe captions and images projected onto a screen; the captions are usually lines spoken by a character, or images relevant to the scene (eg. when Laura talks about being called "Blue Roses," a picture of blue roses gets projected).

In the production notes, Williams states that the purpose of the projected captions is to illuminate certain themes that may not be immediately clear and to invoke a particular emotional response from the audience. However, the original production eliminated these projects, with Williams' approval. However, Williams published the play with the captions included. There are thus two scripts of THE GLASS MENAGERIE: the "reading" script, and the "acting" script.

All major productions have likewise omitted the captions. Personally, I find the captions silly, to the point of mockery (when Laura finds out that her high school crush is coming to dinner, the caption "Not Jim!" appears), but my professor holds them to high regard, saying they offset the sentimentality of the play.

[magruder]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:29pm

She's saying that without the captions, the play is a sentimental soap opera, which it's not. And the anger is directed at all of the genius revisionist professors who take swipes at masterworks, when they are incapable of ever contributing anything creative to the world at large.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:31pm

The teacher criticized SOMETHING - That there are some productions that aren't loyal to Tennessee's original intent. If anything, the teacher is honoring the masterworks, and wishing they stayed true to the author's original work.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:31pm

Alright, that's what I thought, I thought it was something more drastic, due to the way Magruder was acting. Drama queen!

I agree - the captions come across as mockery and would insult my intelligence as an audience member.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:34pm

So, back on topic: most critics have found Williams' justifications for the captions inadequate (his production notes regarding the device are pretty vague), but are still convinced of their importance. What is your opinion of them? Also, I love THE GLASS MENAGERIE -- it's my favourite Williams play -- but I can see my professor's point: what is in the play that makes it rise above a simple, sentimental drama? Is it the metatheatrical conceit?

Updated On: 2/25/05 at 05:34 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 6:08pm

The Jessica Tandy/Amanda Plummer production of the play did use the captions and the captions got unintended laughs.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 6:10pm

Does the current Lange production use captions?

[magruder]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 6:13pm

OK, OK, maybe I overreacted...a little. But your professor's type of attitude just gets right under my skin. I imagine now, there will be impressionable drama students running around dismissing Glass Menagerie as gooey sentimentality because of her views.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 8:22pm

It's okay for a prof to express his or her opinion as long as they make it clear it's an opinion, and hopefully let the students discuss things and form their own impressions first. My musical theater professor had some definite ideas about Andrew Lloyd Webber, but he made us listen to Evita first. :)

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:34am

Magruder brings up an interesting point: what's wrong with sentimentality? Especially in THE GLASS MENAGERIE, where Tom explicitly states that the play, being memory, is sentimental. Why is it that when a play appeals to the emotions it's considered less worthy of praise?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:36am

Cheap, manipulative sentiment is bad, but honest, heartfelt sentimentality, as you find in The Glass Menagerie, is commendable, IMO.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 9:59am

Hello Blue Wizard:

I think I might be able to illuminate Williams captions.

Back in the 1940s there was a European director named Erwin Piscator who had fled Germany and was teaching in New York. Along with Bertolt Brect, his main theme was epic theatre which, as I understood it, was the withdrawal of emotion on the stage, which would help the audience understand the play's core or lesson plan, as it were. This was done using onstage bands, captions and movie images projected on stage. I saw a few of these productions and the onstage captions were obtrusive and annoying. I'm sure Williams knew of this and wrote the captions into the script. But take it from an old lady who saw the original production, it did not need captions: it had Taylor, Dowling, Hayden and Ross.

Miriam

Updated On: 2/26/05 at 09:59 AM

Posted: 2/26/05 at 10:01am

Miriam - that's something I had never heard.

So tell us, was Ms. Taylor's performance everything that it's been made out to be?

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 10:05am

It went beyond performance to embrace life. I hate to sound pretentious, but yes, it really was that good. Unfortunately, Taylor did not commit the performance to radio or record, and so we have nothing with which to document her performance. What a pity!

Miriam

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 2:45pm

Miriam, thank you for your post. It certainly helped me better understand the use of captions. Does this mean Williams' original intent was to not have the audience emotionally engaged in THE GLASS MENAGERIE?

And it's thrilling to hear you saw the original production. Wow, that must have been a wonder!

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 3:45pm

The current production uses one projection. That of Daddy Wingfield during Tom's opening monologue....

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 2/27/05 at 9:57am

Blue Wizard:

It's really hard to say what Williams 'intent was in using the captions. Since he had studied with Piscator, perhaps her thought that the captions could either illuminate the play ort help distance people from the action. Who knows? All I can tell you is that the original production did not use them. And it was perfect just the way it was!

Take care

Miriam

Updated On: 2/27/05 at 09:57 AM