Structure and Stage Directions in Act 1

‘Turns to Brick with a sudden, gay, charming smile which fades as she notices that he is not looking at her but into fading gold space with a troubled expression. It is constant rejection that makes her humour ‘bitchy’. ’ Her smile fades when she notices he is not looking at her, could show her vanity and her hunger for attention. Her damaged ego and insecurity is also shown in ‘It is constant rejection that makes her humour ‘bitchy’’. ‘fading gold’ could represent their dysfunctional and disintegrating relationship because of the fading of something precious. It could also represent the colours of dusk, which illustrates the end of the day and the beginning of the night and could therefore describe the beginning of the downfall of the characters.

‘Whenever she calls him ‘baby’ the word is a soft caress’ At the beginning it could be seen as innocent, tender love between two couples, however, when the audience discover that she had an affair with Brick’s friend, Skipper, it causes the ‘baby’ to seem more as coax to charm him into forgetting about what she assumes he is thinking about; to charm him into forgiving her and forgetting the past. This illustrates her to be less innocent and more manipulative and sly.

‘Margaret moves about the room as she talks, stops before the mirror, moves on.’ Moving around the room could represent panic and confusion. The fact that she takes the time to stop to look in the mirror reflects her vanity and shows that she is very self-centred. ‘absently’ & ‘dreamily’ & ‘cooly’ & ‘indifferently’ and ‘wryly’ Emphasises on Brick’s disinterest in what Maggie is saying.

‘Another gasping breath. She forcibly controls what must have been and impulse to cry out. We see her deliberately, very forcibly going all the way back to the world in which you can talk about ordinary matters’ Could show that she is not genuinely hurt, she is just putting on an act deliberately to gain sympathy from others. ‘Ordinary matters’ could have different meanings to different audiences as some things, such as homosexuality would not be seen as an ordinary matter as it could not be discussed openly. Shows that she doesn’t like the reality she lives in. She has a lot of feelings bottled up.

‘Brick is without his crutch. Leaning on furniture, he crosses to pick it up as she continues as if she is possessed by some will outside her’ This stage direction could have a double meaning; it could show that Brick is not stable mentally and physically. The leg injury could have been incorporated into the play to illustrate Brick’s vulnerability. The fact that he tries to get his crutch on his own without asking for his wife’s help emphasises on the bad state of their relationship. ‘Possessed by some will outside her’ shows that Maggie is also not mentally stable, and therefore not stable enough to support her husband. ‘Outside her’ could mean that she is heavily influenced by others and has very little control over her own actions; she relies entirely on others and their approval.

Structure The audience at the beginning of the play gets the feeling that Maggie is unaware of the reasons for Brick’s hostility towards her but then she reveals that she has an idea as to why he seems to have so much hate for his wife. This shows that she can be sly and is careful with the information she gives in order to play her cards right and draw as much information from others as she possibly can before revealing what she already knows. This may contribute to the meaning behind the play and may be influential towards the plot. In the Notes for the designer, the reader is presented with mixed emotions of passion and anxiety through the use of oxymoron's such as ‘their passion for breaking out’ and ‘gently and poetically haunted’. This may cause the audience to become wary of the relationships that are presented in the play because we are unsure as to whether they will turn out good or bad. Relationships seem to be the main theme of this play so this may have been done deliberately by Williams. The stage directions and structure seem to be key to the atmosphere and build to the plot.

The Effect it would have on a modern audience compared to and audience from the 1950’s. A modern audience would be able to identify Brick’s homosexuality much faster than an audience from the 50’s, due to the fact that it has become a significant and accepted part of modern society. An audience from the 50’s would penalise Brick for his homosexuality and view him as the cause for the ‘fault’ in his personality, whereas a modern audience would be more open to the reasons why he is homosexual and may consider the idea that perhaps his wife is the cause for his change in sexuality.