Minash Bablani Exam practice IB English A1 Some dramatists make more significant use of physical elements such as stage

scenery than do others. Discuss the extent to which use of such features and their impact on meaning in two or three plays that you have studied. Stage scenery and directions are what mainly set any drama apart from poetry and prose. Some playwrights make very good use of this in order to depict emotions that the character is feeling or the people around that particular character are feeling. It puts emphasis on the tone of the speaker and the atmosphere in which something is set. Stage scenery allows the audience or reader to visualize the context when the play has been set. Many simple emotions such as humour, love, want, anger, envy, and sadness are intensified using stage directions and props. What makes The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams and A View From the Bridge, Arthur Miller similar is that they belong to the same genre; tragedy and are both based on family relationships. The plays open with stage directions enlightening the audience with the setting, which helps to further, delve into the context of when the play was written in and also suggests the familys *Carbones and Wingfields+ place in society. Both the plays are set in the protagonists apartment. It is understood that neither of them are particularly wealthy or come from a high class in society, one of the vast hive-like conglomerations of cellular living- units that flower as warty growths in overcrowded urban centres of lower middle class populations and are symptomatic of the impulse of this largest and fundamentally enslaved section of American society to avoid fluidity and differentiation and to exist and function as one interfused mass of automatism, this building, which runs parallel to the footlights, is flanked on both sides by dark, narrow alleys which run into murky canyons of tangled cloth lines, garbage cans and sinister lattice-work of neighbouring fireescapes (Williams, 3). This tells us that the family is not well to do, and they almost live in a prison, which is very claustrophobic and follow a routine that does not need them to think for themselves. The building they live in does not have a proper exit, which could symbolize entrapment, and the fire-escape further enhances this idea because fire- escapes are generally associated with emergencies. Therefore, Toms frequent use of the fire- escape proves his desperation to leave the house and the responsibility of supporting his mother and crippled sister, he makes it seem like an emergency to search for adventure. A View From the Bridge is opened with stage settings much shorter than those of Williams. They mainly describe the setting but do not give out much more information than that, its a workers flat, clean, sparse, homely, the street and house front of a tenement building informing the audience that they are poor. Other props that are used later on in the play such as the phonograph, telephone booth and the stairway that leads to the upper level of the apartment which could have been kept on stage right from the start of the play to create suspense or just for the setting. The scene opens with longshoremen pitching coins at the building, which sets the context of a working class setting and the fact that they are gambling in their free time sets a vague idea of the neighbourhood as well. The foghorn at the start adds to the setting of this play.

Minash Bablani Exam practice IB English A1 The openings of both the plays use stage scenery very well, but Williams has more intricate detail about the context in which it is set and is very descriptive about the apartment unlike Miller, which gives the audience a clearer idea right from the start. The dining room is the main area where all the action takes place in both the plays, which could symbolize that it was a meeting place for the family. Tom is the protagonist and narrator in The Glass Menagerie whereas in A View From the Bridge, Alfieri is the narrator and acts like a referee in all the arguments and misunderstandings in the play that the protagonist has with the other characters. In A View From the Bridge, Miller puts emphasis on the phone booth to show that it is an important part of the play and eventually will be the cause of tragedy. The phone booth has latent power and its constant presence on stage hints on what the future will bring for Eddie. In Act 2, Miller has used lighting very significantly; when the phone booth magically glows, it acts as a temptation for Eddie; as it grows brighter and brighter it signals the closer Eddie is to calling the immigration bureau. His inability to make the right choice and being easily tempted by the glowing almost makes him seem immature and unable to make decisions therefore leading to be the cause of his own downfall later on in the play. The phonograph, which is a record player, is another essential prop used in the play especially when Rodolfo and Catherine dance to Paper Doll, which has many implications such as Rodolfo not being masculine enough for Catherine or him being gay and fragile which could be similar to the use of the glass menagerie that Laura plays with which represent her as being frail and delicate. At the end of the play, in scene seven Jim accidently breaks the unicorn glass piece which could symbolize him breaking Lauras heart, or since the unicorn could be seen as something from a fantasy world, perhaps it could signify that he has brought Laura out of her dream world and into reality. In the Glass Menagerie, the victrola (a wind up gramophone) is always on stage and is used by Laura to comfort herself. Whenever she feels awkward, for example when Jim enters she goes over to the victrola. It acts as a solace for her as the fire escape and the movies do for Tom. There is music playing in the background throughout most of the play, which comes from the Paradise Dance Hall across the alley, and the glass menagerie music plays every time Laura plays with the glass objects. Williams uses music to enhance the atmosphere of either happiness with fast music or slow music, which represents a dull section of a scene to add more of a dramatic effect. The legend/images, which appears on the screen, is very unique stage direction by Williams, and adds emphasis on certain aspects for example the blue rose executive at desk. Other stage directions such as Jim unconsciously glance*ing+ at himself in the mirror while talking to Laura about her inferiority complex is very ironic because it could be seen as though he is speaking to himself. Also when he lights a cigarette and takes out his gum, it could be used as a metaphor for Laura as he has just kissed her and lighting a cigarette and taking out the gum will make it seem like the kiss never happened. Especially in the section of scene 7, between Jim and Laura the stage setting and directions by Williams are essential because they show Lauras gradual change in behaviour and how she is slowly getting comfortable with him so quickly which is

Minash Bablani Exam practice IB English A1 very rare for her. This is the most she has spoken in the whole play. His attitude is convincingly dynamic. Laura stares at him, even her shyness eclipsed in absolute wonder, Laura is abashed beyond speech are the happy emotions that are shown through stage directions and then the shock of another woman in his life is emphasized by directions such as, the holy candles in the altar of Lauras face have been snuffled out which could symbolize a loss of hope or marriage for her. Also, when Jim walks into the parlour, which is dark with the candelabrum where Laura is sat, this could be used as a sign of hope, symbolizing that Jim was an angel and was going to change everything. The breaking of the glass menagerie during the time and her giving it to Jim as a souvenir could symbolize her broken heart and her giving it to him to keep hinting womens place in society at the time and how she was the complete opposite of her mother. In A View From the Bridge, stage setting are not used to the extent and detail they are used in The Glass Menagerie. Miller mainly focuses on the phone both, the phonogram and Alfieris office, which are very symbolic. The character mainly puts through emotions themselves unlike The Glass Menagerie. There are more stage directions at the beginning and end of each act. Perhaps because there are more characters and due to Eddies aggressive and irrational behaviour stage directions are not required as much as in the Glass Menagerie due to Lauras abnormally quiet nature and Toms desperation to leave which needs to be shown through other means since he is not particularly expressive about his emotions. However, Williams does use many stage directions for Amanda although she is a very loud and over powering character in the play. This could probably be to enhance her haughtiness and her personality and Williams aim to reflect how she was in the past since the whole play is based on the concept of finding a gentlemen caller for Laura. A View From the Bridge is a naturalistic play and the stage scenery is very close to the actual resemblance of the play whereas The Glass Menagerie, as we are told in the beginning of the first scene is meant to be a memory and therefore non-realistic, omitting some sections and exaggerating the other. Both the plays use stage setting, scenery and other props to put across varied emotions and contextual setting but The Glass Menagerie focuses more on directions whereas A View From the Bridge on props to foreshadow events that will happen further on in the play. Both the protagonists turn out to be tragic heroes, their fatal flaw being the inability to make the right decision being the reason for their downfall, ending the play tragically.