Synopses & Reviews
The Glass Menagerie marked a crucial turning point in American theater, and forever changed the life of its then unknown author. Williams s elegiac master- piece brought a radical new lyricism to Broadway the tragedy, fragility, and tenderness of this memory play have made it one of America s most powerful, timeless, and compelling plays. The introduction by Tony Kushner sparkles with the kind of rich, unique insight that only a fellow playwright could convey.The Deluxe Centennial Edition includes: Tony Kushner s astonishing introduction. The pioneering essay, The Homosexual in Society, by Tennessee s friend Robert Duncan, and poems by Hart Crane, E. E. Cummings, Walt Whitman, and Tennessee Williams, which Kushner discusses as sources of inspiration. The Pretty Trap, a cheerful one-act run-up to The Glass Menagerie. The Portrait of a Girl in Glass, Tennessee s short-story variation of the play Photographs of great actresses who have played Amanda, and stills from various stage and film incarnations of The Glass Menagerie. Williams s classic essay about fame, The Catastrophe of Success. The playwright s original Production Notes. The 1944 opening-night rave reviews from Chicago. An essay by the distinguished Williams scholar Allean Hale, Inside The Menagerie, provides autobiographical particulars about Williams s family life in St. Louis. A gorgeous new jacket design by Rodrigo Corral.
Synopsis
This series of plays for the 11-16 age range offers contemporary drama and new editions of classic plays. The series has been developed to support classroom teaching and to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum Key Stages 3 and 4. The plays are suitable for classroom reading and performance; many have large casts and an equal mix of parts for boys and girls. Each play includes strategies and activities to introduce and use the plays in the classroom. "The Glass Menagerie" tells the story of Tom, who is frustrated in his job and distressed at home by the mental withdrawal of his crippled sister. Both of them are intrigued by a set of glass figures. There are four parts, two male and two female.