The Glass Menagerie - - Final

The above image is the final design for Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." This was a very interesting project for me as it was not the first time I had designed this show. I did a lot more text based research and analysis this time around.

Through this research I made the choice that, while Laura is the most sympathetic character and Amanda the most dramatic, the story is ultimately Tom's. The set needs to not only embody the world that Tom and his memories live in, but to draw the audience into his story.

My approach to this design was to strip the play to it's barest form. It is simply a man telling a story. The audience surrounds him and his story. Tom never leaves the stage, he is both storyteller and player. In a story like "The Glass Menagerie," the viewer can not be distracted by "stuff." The most powerful image is the one in your head. The set is comprised of a colored wooden floor surrounded by a gray-toned wooden fire escape. The fire escape surrounds the Wingfield apartment. Entrances and exits are made via a set of stairs that appear in a section of the fire escape. This entrance is only accessible to Amanda, Laura and Jim. While Tom leaves the apartment, he never leaves the story, as it is his memory that we are bearing witness to.
As scenes shift locals, the furniture comes and goes as needed. For instance, during the dinner scene, they sit at a table, but during the scene between Jim and Laura all that really matters, that we need to see are the candles. These transitions would be "magical" sometimes fading slowly, sometimes quickly. The whole production would be imbued with a sense of magic and wonder.

Hopefully this design would help tell the story of Tom, Amanda, Laura and Jim.