The Glass Menagerie

Created ByRobert, Cole, Lauren, and Alexis

• In the play of The Glass Menagerie the use of “magic lantern” slides was called for in the production notes

• The slides called for were to be similar to the format of this slide show presentation.

• They were intended to be projected on a wall of the set, according to Terry Teachout

• Terry Teachout wrote an article called The Irrelevant Masterpiece: The lessons of the enduring success of The Glass Menagerie.

• The article talked about the play, and how the “dreamlike” setting helped the play strive

• Many times the play called for a picture, or phrase to be projected on the lantern slides

• The point of the slides was to give the audience a feeling that the play was “dreamlike”

• The slides also gave a subjective view of the events occurring during the play

• The original Broadway production dropped the slides. Terry Teachout said that at the time the play was produced (1945), it was unorthodox to have the magic lantern slides, and that is why they were dropped.

• Now, with the new technology, it is no longer unorthodox to project images on the side of a set wall. But a question arises, are the images needed?

• We think they are not needed. If we were to produce the play nowadays, we would also leave them out because the play can be produced without the slide projections and still give the illusion of an anti-naturalistic atmosphere.

• One way the play kept its “dreamlike” feel was by the set.

• Terry Teachout described the set to often have translucent and transparent scenic interior walls.

• The translucent and transparent scenic interior walls were used to see what was happening in the alley behind the house, while allowing the audience to see what was happening in the house at the same time.

• Another feature of the play that gave it the “dreamlike” feel that Teachout pointed out in his article, was the way the characters spoke. The everyday talk the characters used made the play easy to relate to for the audience.

• Although the magic lantern slides were dropped from the production, the music was not. Terry Teachout said that the music was used to also make the play feel “dreamlike”

• Many aspects are used in the play, The Glass Menagerie, that give it a “dreamlike” feel. The use of the magic lantern slides are not necessary to the play. Adding them back would neither benefit nor harm the final production so it is easier to just leave them out.