Image: “Dawid’s father wearing a military uniform during World War 1”
In my opinion, the rest of the play will explain itself.
Anastazia’s voice is heard in the dining room just as she enters through the front door back from work. Cecylia and Dawid enter the dining room and they all sit round a table where dinner is ready . They all start having dinner which is indicated by gestures.
Anastazia (to her sons): You’ve listened to the radio recently? The Germans are planning to attack us in the following weeks. I honestly don’t know what they’ll gain from this attack.
Dawid (confident): Oh mother don’t worry, that won’t happen. I was discussing this with Adam the other day, the fellow who has a store next to ours. The Germans know that if they decide to attack Poland, they’ll start a Second World War and they don’t want that to happen do they?,Plus we should be safe as ever, since we’ll have England’s support if that indeed happens.
Cecylia: I wouldn’t be so sure of that brother. You know that Hitler is a men with a mission and he has already proven that he is determined to follow through with this mission of his.
(Pauses)
He wants to, you know, get rid of the Jews, so we’ll need to be careful since we don’t want anything bad to happen. Only if dad were here, he would be able to protect us and guide us if indeed something happens.
Cecylia stares at the photograph of their father and continues eating.
Dawid (Positive): Don’t worry sister I’ll protect you when needed. I can promise you that. After all it’s my duty to make sure you and mother are safe all the time.
Dawid stands up and takes the plates to the kitchen. At that same time a huge explosion is heard outside. People are screaming on Warsaw’s streets. There is the sound of many people marching up the stairs of the building.
Music: Third Reich military music
Anastazia (desperately): Quick, hide! (She makes a gesture towards the cupboard near the dining table.)
At that same time four German soldiers enter the apartment. Dawid is able to hide whilst Anastazia and Cecylia are taken away. He is tempted to go after them but remains hidden as if someone had told him to do that.
Dawid is left alone, static, in desperation, not knowing what to do. He looks outside the window, rain pouring out of the grey sky and sees his mother and family being dragged by two German soldiers. The statue of Kazimierz Pulaski lies on the ground.
Legend on screen: “What do I do now?”
Rationale:
The objective of this task was to create an autobiography using Tennesse Williams’style of writing. In his play, “The Glass Menagerie” he uses music, the screen device and lighting in a very effective way as well as using various literary devices such as dramatic irony, pathetic fallacy and humour.
I start out by giving a detailed description of the setting in the opening stage directions, just like Tennesse Williams, to set the play. In the beginning, the main character also starts with a long monologue explaining what the play is about and giving the social background of the play. The fact that Dawid enters wearing a German uniform although he is a Jew is alienating to the audience but later on in the play it’s explained that he was forced to disguise himself as a German in order to survive the war. I also used humour in the opening speech “he died in 1915, middle of World War 1 on the front line after receiving a telegram that my mother had given birth, His cry of joy gave away his position and he was shot by a German sniper” when describing how the main character’s father had died, which is always entertaining to the audience and keeps them interested in the play. This mixture of tragedy and comedy is known as tragicomedy and is used by great writers such as Shakespeare and it’s effect is to “play” with the audience’s emotions.
Again I decided I would use the screen device to show some images and outline the main message of each scene. In the opening stage directions lighting is also focusedon the photograph of the father to outline his importance in the play. The fact that the characters keep on referring to their father also foreshadows that he will be relevant in the rest on the play. Dramatic irony is also used when Dawid confidently says that the Germans will not attack them, as we know that they actually did. I also included other literary devices such as pathetic fallacy “rain pouring out of the grey sky” which is technique frequently used by Tennesse Williams.
Dawid is a character in the play as well as the narrator which again is alienating since that doesn’t normally happen on stage .Dawid can also exaggerate sometimes since the audience are seeing the scene through Dawid’s perspective. Again I decided I would add music to the scene to create an atmosphere and the fact that the music used is “Third Reich military music” is also a bit humoruus and alienating to the audience. Williams also uses various symbols, such as the glass menagerie, so again I decided to use a symbol. The statue of Kazimierz Pulaski symbolizes freedom, independence and safety and when the statue is knocked down by the German people are no longer safe or free.
Overall I think my text is good since it’s written in a similar style to Tennessee Williams and it sounds authentic, all of that can happen in the real world or has indeed happened. I think the use of the statue as a symbol was a good idea, since Tennessee Williams likes to use symbols such as the glass menagerie, as was the pathetic fallacy however maybe a more personal view of the surroundings could have been given in the opening stage directions to make the opening description even more closely related to Tennessee Williams style of writing.
