Discuss the contribution of symbolic effects in stage setting, in music, in lighting and in properties to your understanding of Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie'.

Tennessee Williams' states, through the character of Tom, that he has "a poet's weakness for symbols" and this is especially evident in The Glass Menagerie, his first commercial success. As a playwright, Williams' faces the challenge of introducing imagery that is either viable or audible to the audience. He achieves this through his use of lighting, music and stage setting. Williams' calls this a 'memory play', both in the production notes and in the core …

…the shower of ticket stubs in scene four shows the fragments of his dreams being poured away into the wind. In conclusion, Tennessee Williams uses stage direction i.e. Set, lighting, music etc. just as productively as he does dialogue. He represents and implies things through these devices that it would be impossible to when performing. These devices allow Williams to convey his ideas as well as keep up the image of memory and sentimentality.