Stagecraft Flashcards
(5 cards)
The light of the train
’ the blinding light; of the oncoming train floods across the apartment, serving as an example of Williams’ expressionism, flooding the dark apartment when Blanche is with mitch
- this perhaps conveys the devastating effect of Alan’s suicde
- representing the blinding light of a love came and gone so fast - directing her entire life
- or, as the train is the emblem of the thrusting new American future, it could serve as the interrogative light that Stanley shines on her
- therefore, as a stage effect, it effectively conveys her character development into lunacy
the lantern
‘I bought this adorable little coloured paper lantern at a Chinese shop off bourbon’ - she attempts to dim the light, hiding the truth - practiced deception is revealed not to just be simple vanity, but rather a survival mechanism
when it is ripped off, ‘blanche cries out as if the lantern were herself’ - this connects the delicate paper lantern with her innermost self - thus, Williams create a seamless unity between this literary symbol and the stage metaphor
Shadows
- shadows serve a s threatening element, during the rape, lurid reflections curse with ‘jungle noises’ - Williams utilises plastic theatre to depict her mental deterorioation
lights in the polka scene
the fusion of lurid lights and bold coloured shirts emphasises the masculinity and roughness
‘the raw, lurid atmosphere’
Costume
- Blanche is ‘daintily dressed in a white suit’ highlighting her visual incongruity to the setting tying into the light an dark imagery - likens her to a moth
- it is deliberately ironic as it reflects the pretense of virginal purity which she desperately seeks to maintain and which Stanley later mocks - ‘sister blanche is no lily’
- By 10 however, her dress is ‘soiled’ and ‘crumbled’ reflecting the southern gothic
- juxtaposes with ‘Stanley’s gaudy pyjamas’ and ‘the polka players… wear coloured shirts; vibrancy nd power of new American working class
