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Ratbastid is correct. It is a funny question (really I think a sloppy question) and a play is not information per se, such as a tech manual. It most definitely is art and that is how I see it too. When writing the question I was thinking of collections of words that impart communication and that we learn from. And art is certainly communication and I do learn from art. I was also thinking of learning specifically via words vs visual. Another thing I was considering at the same time was the printed page and how the future of the printed book is an industry buzz. I could/should have included recordings too.
Of course I am not looking for a "right answer". There is not one, and of course that is not really all there is to WIlliams' play if you take in the time period and social overtones. And of course that it is an enduring classic that directors and actors can do their things with. I have thought that was obvious and a given. That is a beauty of the form.
One of the things that I appreciate about a play's structure is the author's use of communication through conversation or sound, with little description. It can allow the one doing the reading to direct and act the parts simultaneously and to perfect or alter it in re-readings. Although some playwrights have taken meticulous care to be descriptive of their stage and surroundings, most do leave much of that to the reader which is a collaborative function that i appreciate. I like the freedom to imagine characters based on what I learn of them while reading and sometimes I think of them in different settings or time periods upon re-reading.
Poetry. Yeah. Floyd Skloot is going to be reading some of his stuff tomorrow night. And check out Kerouac on YouTube reading with on the Steve Allen Show (i posted that somewhere on tfp). Not only is it different to hear poetry read aloud as compared to reading it, but when you hear the author reading his own work it lends a realness.
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As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons...be cheerful; strive for happiness - Desiderata
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