IndexIntroductionExpressionism and RealismCelia Keenan-Bolger as Laura WingfieldMyself as Laura WingfieldIntroduction For this qualitative essay I will use a practice-based approach to explore the character of Laura , in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I will undertake this task, delving into the theories of expressionism and realism that are explicitly seen in the play, and exploring how these influence the interpretation of the character. To do this, I will examine the primary sources of Konstantin Stanislavski's Glass Menagerie and Building a Character. Additionally, I will be examining Celia Keenan-Bolger's performance as Laura in the revival of John Tiffany's Glass Menagerie on Broadway in 2013. Exploring her personal interpretation, preparation and performance is crucial in allowing me to get a general sense of how Laura is viewed in television. phase from a professional point of view. Also, see how Keenan-Bolger uses realism techniques in his approach to acting. The way he prepares the character contrasts with the foundation of expressionism on which the performance rests. Therefore, I will explore the following question: How can Tennessee Williams' expressionist play, The Glass Menagerie, incorporate realism techniques into the physical depiction of Laura? This play is considered vaguely autobiographical by Tennessee Williams himself. Therefore, it is essential to have a general knowledge of the playwright to understand the importance of the play's themes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Williams was born on March 26, 1911, and grew up in a remarkably toxic household. His only close relationship was with his sister Rose. Williams described her as the salvation of his childhood. However, in 1943 she was diagnosed with schizophrenia which led to her lobotomy. This made her inwardly inaccessible and Tennessee lost her only familiar companion. Because Rose played such a strong role in Tennessee's life, she became a vital component in his writing. The sibling characters of Tom and Laura in Glass Menagerie have been interpreted as a direct representation of Tennessee and Rose. The Glass Menagerie was published and performed in 1944. The story is set in 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri. The narrator is Tom Wingfield, an aspiring poet who works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and his older sister, Laura. The show is about the dynamic of this family and how their distinct traits are at odds with each other. Amanda, Tom and Laura live together in a dilapidated apartment. The story begins with previous events where Amanda enrolls Laura in a business school. However, weeks later, he discovers that Laura's shyness led her to secretly drop out of school. For this reason, Amanda decides that the only way for Laura to have a decent future is to have a husband. During all this, Tom went to the movies or to work. When he is at home he constantly argues with his mother, while Laura takes care of his precious glass figurines. Amanda tells Tom to find Laura a potential boyfriend. Therefore, he invites a colleague and old friend from high school, named Jim, to dinner. After some time of being painfully shy around Jim, Laura manages to have a conversation with him. The two clearly have a connection, however they can't possibly work out because Jim is engaged. Because of this, Jim leaves. Amanda gets angry at Tom; Tom decides that he can no longer bear his life and abandons his mother and sister. As I note, I will focus on how this plot brings out Laura's physicality. ALaura's defining characteristic is her physical disability. As stated in the text, “…crippled, with one leg slightly shorter than the other, and held in a brace. The flaw need not be more than what is suggested on stage.” Therefore, her disability does not have to be prominent, but must be incorporated into her character. Even though it is a physical disability, it has also turned into an emotional disability. The weight of her physical difference leads her to become painfully shy and have disintegrating self-esteem. As a result, he closes himself in his internal world. This world consists of herself, old records and collections of glass figurines; that's all the independence he has. She is a twenty-four year old woman who is treated like glass. His treatment is childish so there is a sense of innocence and vulnerability in his character. This ties into how Laura should be played from the inside out, this way will allow for her demonstration of being both, "emotionally and physically crippled". This is drawn from a realist approach to preparing a character, even if the work is based on expressionism. Expressionism and Realism Expressionism and realism are both theatrical theories derived from 20th century Europe. They are forms of interpretation of a play in terms of atmosphere, setting, plot structure, characters, dialogue and acting style. But above all, what distinguishes them most is the purpose of the performance. In Glass Menagerie I identified a mix of both theories to accurately imagine Tennessee Williams' purpose. Specifically, in the way Laura is represented physically. Therefore, to discuss this concept, I must develop what constitutes expressionism and realism. To begin with, expressionism is art that enhances extreme expressive properties with the aim of exploring subjective emotions and inner psychological truths. Expressionist theater conveys the idea that spiritual fulfillment is ideal, rather than logical. Discussing this theory, Williams stated: “Everyone should know nowadays the insignificance of photography in art: that truth, life or reality is an organic thing which the poetic imagination can represent or suggest, in essence, only through transformation, through change. in forms other than those simply present in appearance." He was one of the playwrights who implemented this theory in the American theater scene. The conventions of expressionism are to make the performance dreamlike with minimal detail and dialogue based on poetic, rhapsodic language. Furthermore, the acting style is a departure from reality, where reality is subjective. Consequently Williams uses the concept of plastic theatre, which falls under expressionism. Its effect is a closer approach to the truth, the truth in the souls of the characters. It is fusing the related arts of narrative, poetry, dance, painting, design, lighting, etc. in the performance. The sole purpose of this addition is to create "a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are." On the other hand, realist theater is based on the idea that the stage is an environment as opposed to being an acting platform. Where the characters' behavior is reflected similarly to what we consider reality in most of the Western world. It's about giving the viewer a piece of the real world in a way that's convenient for the story itself. One of the most influential people to embrace realist theater is the Russian theater practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski. It was he who created the realistic acting system, which then triggered more areas of realism including theAmerican realism and method acting. Realism normally follows a classical dramatic structure of inciting incident in order to further the plot. Furthermore, the characters act faithfully to the environment. The characters react only within themselves and never break the fourth wall. Celia Keenan-Bolger as Laura Wingfield Celia Keenan-Bolger is an American actress who played Laura in the American Repertory Theatre's production of Glass Menagerie. This was the seventh major revival of the piece and was directed by Giovanni Tiffany. The cast consisted of Keenan-Bolger, Cherry Jones, Zachary Quinto and Brian J. Smith, and they performed from September 26, 2013 to February 23, 2014. Celia was 35 years old when she performed the piece, which is 11 years older than to Laura's actual age. As a result of her performance, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play in 2014. The director, John Tiffany, was fascinated by Williams' piece and highlighted the use of expressionist conventions in her performance. He focused on the idea of ​​plastic theater and how it could benefit the show as a whole, "...expanding from the script – being plastic – to create a physical world for the characters' emotions and tensions." He was against the idea of ​​realism in his production. When asked about his performance he said: "I do it the only way I know how: very sober, very pure, without that fake realism that I don't like in the theatre." His aim was to break out of the “exhausted theater of realistic conventions” and create a space in which story and characters could thrive. However, after doing extensive research on Celia Keenan-Bolger, I discovered that the way she portrayed, prepared and performed Laura was drawn from Stanislavski's theatrical realism and this was how she managed to accurately portray her. Representing Laura Wingfield can be challenging due to her complex internal and external complications. Celia Keenan-Bolger played her in a way that remained true to Tennessee Williams' intentions, but at the same time brought the character to life within the actress. She wanted to understand people who were nothing like her, in a way that would benefit from Laura's presentation. Keenan-Bolger managed to do this by working from the inside out: "For the first two weeks of rehearsals, I didn't have a limp...I felt like that was somehow the least of her problems." This links to Stanislavski's approach seen in Building a Character, particularly in "Toward a Physical Characterization". It presents the idea that achieving external physical characterization can only occur when the character's internal values ​​are established within an actor. Keenan-Bolger decided that Laura's physical disability was not the most important element in conveying the character, but her internal conflicts. Keenan-Bolger describes Laura's complexity as: “her interior life is pretty wild and complicated. She also grew up with some sort of physical disability that I think blocked any emotional growth that perhaps happened or could have happened previously. So, the actress played Laura in a way where, even though her disability is part of her existence, it's not the most important part of her as a person and character. This demonstrates Stanislavski's concept that "the character's inner values ​​must be established before moving on to the outer ones." You have to have a certain level of maturity to even begin to prepare for a character like Laura. As Stanislavski states in the chapter “Perspective of character construction”, “(if) an actor is removed frommain course of its part by something foreign and irrelevant to it. Then he loses perspective on his role." If maturity is not present, the actor is unable to concentrate on the important parts of the role. Celia Keenan-Bolger was able to identify this: "I'm not sure I would have completely understood what to do with these ten years." ago. When I was the right age to play this part." Additionally, maturity is necessary to incorporate aspects of said character that are dissimilar to you. In Keenan-Bolger's words, "understanding what makes people who are nothing like me tick." This allowed Celia to accurately portray Laura, delving into not only how the character feels, but also how she moves, talks, etc. Preparation is the key to any successful performance, let alone a physically restraining performance. In Stanislavski's text he mentions the idea that, "...your voice must be well positioned and trained if you want to change it, otherwise you could not, for a certain period of time, speak either in your highest or lowest tones. bass." Celia Keenan-Bolger decided as an actress that she would demonstrate Laura's disability as a subtle but noticeable limp. She chose something that represented the character's physical flaw, but not in a way that was overly limiting for her as an actress. In the chapter “The Perspective of Character Building,” Stanislavski talks about the idea of ​​taking care of both the character and oneself as an actor, “Two perspectives in mind. The one linked to the character played, the other to the actor”. That's what Celia did, she struggled to find what exactly Laura's physical disability consisted of, so she needed something that respected the character, but was still flexible enough to allow her to focus on different aspects of Laura. If she had created a more complex physical flaw, she wouldn't have been as successful at playing Laura. He would have to focus more on the physical aspect than the emotional one and this would be contrary to the concept “nor should the artificial distortion of my mouth affect my inner life as a human being”. This would create a weak character, so Celia Keenan-Bolger's approach was more accurate to portray Laura. All the hard work that goes into analyzing a text, playing your character, preparing it, and rehearsing for hours and hours, all leads to the presentation of the final product. So, the performance. Performance is the reason why actors become actors, being able to immerse themselves in their character and not needing to be anyone else but them. This is also where you share your art with the rest of the world. In the case of Celia Keenan-Bolger, this is where she shared her interpretation and preparation of Laura. Celia's portrayal of Laura was extravagant as she was able to fully showcase all the layers of the character, emotionally and physically. The two factors intertwined and made the character seem realistic, while still flowing with the plot. As mentioned above, the actress portrayed physicality elegantly. She managed to show the flaw, without saturating the action. This ties back to Stanislavski's idea that “The whole body must move together and all movements must have a purpose. To show a character with a physical flaw, in which case he should be able to show it to the right extent, he should move in a simple way that enhances rather than distracts from the impression he creates. In the actress' performance she did exactly that. She managed to make Laura's disability one with the natural way the character walks, without interrupting the plot. The way.”