The Glass Menagerie

In this lesson, we were given an extract from a play called 'The glass menagerie' by Tennessee Williams. This is one of our potential pre-1949 plays that we needed to study. To do so, we were given a scene in groups and asked to perform it how we primarily interpreted it. My group read the chosen scene (a scene between a mother, her daughter and her daughters gentlemen caller) and we interpreted it as naturalistic. Because of this, we originally performed this in a natural way and simply set the stage for a proscenium arch and performed the lines naturally.

I believe that this interpretation of the play is effective as it fully portrays the characters intentions and their emotions. It effectively shows the audience the scene and fully outlines the intentions of the play. However, in a second run-through, my group realised that there could be a potential different way of performing this scene.

Because of this, we then needed to perform it in a more Brechtian way.  
To do this, we took the same scene and added more alienating techniques to it. We kept the voice and structure the same but hugely changed the rest:
Rather than performing on stage as usual, we decided to begin the scene in the audience itself. Whilst being seated in the audience, we said our lines outwards towards the stage. Also, Sam stood behind the audience and knocked on the back of chairs as if he was knocking on the door. Midway into the scene, when Sam is finally let in, we went onto the stage and set out the chairs in our original position. We did this while speaking our lines and then finished onstage. This alienated the audience as they were confronted with a sparse stage and then suddenly heard the voices come from within the audience. This is a very Brechtian technique and fully ensured that the audience knows that they are watching a play, not real life.

Overall, I prefer this interpretation. I believe that it was more effective and was very intriguing for the audience. I preferred performing this way as well as it was unusual and it was fun to act in the audience.