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A Streetcar Named Desire
The Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award winning play—reissued with an introduction by Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams’ essay “The World I Live In.”
It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared—57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the ’40s and ’50s.
It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared—57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the ’40s and ’50s.
107 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
About the author
Tennessee Williams
580 books3,478 followersThomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth.
Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
From Wikipedia
Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 8,058 reviews
February 11, 2023
BLAAAAANCHE!
Pregnant Stella DuBois and common Stanley Kowalski live a tumultuous yet content and passionate life in a shabby two-room flat in New Orleans. That is until one day Stella’s older sister Blanche unexpectedly arrives with her belongings to spend some time. Her refined manners and extravagant personality hides more than it shows; something is off, and soon frictions begin to arise. Her troublesome past is not done with her yet.
I have to admit I originally wanted to read ‘A street cat named Bob’, but ultimately decided it was best to at least know first the origin of the pun. I do not regret it. An outstandingly dramatic short theatre play by master Tennessee Williams, justly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. Not exactly a favorite, none of the characters are likable, and some parts are very hard to digest; yet there are some very powerful moments, tension, and a story that is more than memorable. Its legendary fame is not earned without reason. Recommendable, maybe even very.
Still remaining, the movie (1951)
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1947] [107p] [Theatre] [3.5] [Recommendable]
["STELLLAHHHHH!"] [“There’s so much-so much confusion in the world.”]
-----------------------------------------------
¡BLAAAAANCHE!
Embarazada Stella DuBois y común Stanley Kowalski viven una tumultuosa pero contenta y apasionada vida en un precario departamento de dos habitaciones en Nueva Orleans. Esto es hasta que un día Blanche, la hermana mayor de Stella, inesperadamente llega con sus pertenencias para pasar un tiempo. Su refinada forma de ser y su personalidad extravagante esconde mucho más de lo que muestra; algo no cierra, y pronto las fricciones empiezan a surgir. Su problemático pasado todavía no terminó con ella.
Debo admitir que originalmente quería leer ‘Un gato callejero llamado Bob’, pero al final decidí que lo mejor era al menos conocer el origen de la broma. No me arrepiento. Una sobresaliente dramática corta obra de teatro por el maestro Tennessee William, justamente merecedora del Premio Pulitzer. No exactamente un favorito, ninguno de los personajes es entrañable, y algunas partes son muy difíciles de digerir; pero hay algunos momentos muy poderosos, tensión, y una historia más que memorable. Su legendaria fama no fue ganada sin razón. Recomendable, tal vez muy.
Queda pendiente, la película (1951)
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1947] [107p] [Teatro] [3.5] [Recomendable]
["!STELLLAHHHHH!"] [“Hay tanta-tanta confusión en el mundo.”]
-----------------------------------------------
Pregnant Stella DuBois and common Stanley Kowalski live a tumultuous yet content and passionate life in a shabby two-room flat in New Orleans. That is until one day Stella’s older sister Blanche unexpectedly arrives with her belongings to spend some time. Her refined manners and extravagant personality hides more than it shows; something is off, and soon frictions begin to arise. Her troublesome past is not done with her yet.
I have to admit I originally wanted to read ‘A street cat named Bob’, but ultimately decided it was best to at least know first the origin of the pun. I do not regret it. An outstandingly dramatic short theatre play by master Tennessee Williams, justly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. Not exactly a favorite, none of the characters are likable, and some parts are very hard to digest; yet there are some very powerful moments, tension, and a story that is more than memorable. Its legendary fame is not earned without reason. Recommendable, maybe even very.
Still remaining, the movie (1951)
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1947] [107p] [Theatre] [3.5] [Recommendable]
["STELLLAHHHHH!"] [“There’s so much-so much confusion in the world.”]
-----------------------------------------------
¡BLAAAAANCHE!
Embarazada Stella DuBois y común Stanley Kowalski viven una tumultuosa pero contenta y apasionada vida en un precario departamento de dos habitaciones en Nueva Orleans. Esto es hasta que un día Blanche, la hermana mayor de Stella, inesperadamente llega con sus pertenencias para pasar un tiempo. Su refinada forma de ser y su personalidad extravagante esconde mucho más de lo que muestra; algo no cierra, y pronto las fricciones empiezan a surgir. Su problemático pasado todavía no terminó con ella.
Debo admitir que originalmente quería leer ‘Un gato callejero llamado Bob’, pero al final decidí que lo mejor era al menos conocer el origen de la broma. No me arrepiento. Una sobresaliente dramática corta obra de teatro por el maestro Tennessee William, justamente merecedora del Premio Pulitzer. No exactamente un favorito, ninguno de los personajes es entrañable, y algunas partes son muy difíciles de digerir; pero hay algunos momentos muy poderosos, tensión, y una historia más que memorable. Su legendaria fama no fue ganada sin razón. Recomendable, tal vez muy.
Queda pendiente, la película (1951)
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1947] [107p] [Teatro] [3.5] [Recomendable]
["!STELLLAHHHHH!"] [“Hay tanta-tanta confusión en el mundo.”]
-----------------------------------------------
May 23, 2018
Whoa.
I did not consume this play as I was intended to. I mean, honestly, you're not supposed to read a play. Tell that to any high school English teacher ever, but still. Tennessee Williams didn't write this like "Hopefully in sixty years a girl will read this alone in her room in one sitting so she can fulfill her goal of reading a classic every month." That's not his ideal.
That being said.
THIS MADE ME FEEL SO MUCH.
A play is supposed to be acted, obviously. Reading it leads to a less emotional rendering, with less full characters, in an imagined version of what is supposed to be a concrete setting. It's a lesser experience - like reading a screenplay. (Cough cough, f*ck you JK Rowling, cough.)
And still this was incredible! Blanche and Stella and Mitch were heart-rending. There's so much tension here, and the revelations and the moments of climax and action are just unreal. I don't even know what to say beyond whoa.
Guess I should've stopped this review after the first word.
Bottom line: FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC. This reading-a-classic-a-month thing is the best thing I'm doing this year.
I did not consume this play as I was intended to. I mean, honestly, you're not supposed to read a play. Tell that to any high school English teacher ever, but still. Tennessee Williams didn't write this like "Hopefully in sixty years a girl will read this alone in her room in one sitting so she can fulfill her goal of reading a classic every month." That's not his ideal.
That being said.
THIS MADE ME FEEL SO MUCH.
A play is supposed to be acted, obviously. Reading it leads to a less emotional rendering, with less full characters, in an imagined version of what is supposed to be a concrete setting. It's a lesser experience - like reading a screenplay. (Cough cough, f*ck you JK Rowling, cough.)
And still this was incredible! Blanche and Stella and Mitch were heart-rending. There's so much tension here, and the revelations and the moments of climax and action are just unreal. I don't even know what to say beyond whoa.
Guess I should've stopped this review after the first word.
Bottom line: FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC. This reading-a-classic-a-month thing is the best thing I'm doing this year.
December 20, 2018
“He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly,
compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since
earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it,
not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male
bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying center are all the auxiliary
channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, his love of
good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of
the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images
flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.”
Stanley Kowalski is the male equivalent of Faulkner’s Dewey Dell who proclaims “I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth”. Here is raw, primal, lustful sexuality that pulses and seduces a reader (or audience).
“Stell-lahhhhh!’”
The poker scene was made famous by Brando’s performance and Kazan’s brilliant direction, but before the 1951 award-winning film was Tennessee Williams’ masterful scene of primitive love and attraction.
“I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”
Blanche DuBois is an archetypal feminine tragic figure on the literary scale with Hemingway’s Lady Brett. But whereas Brett is the domineering, tyrannical alpha female, Blanche’s contribution to our dramatic culture is of the damaged, broken woman, heir to an inheritance that is literally and metaphorically lost.
Tennessee Williams New Orleans play, with the “blue piano” and polka music playing in the background is one our most powerful dramas.
A must read, but like all plays, it must also be seen.
** 2018 - I watched the 1951 film recently and was again amazed at the theatrical tension the play produces, especially when acted out by such talented actors. Interestingly, and sadly, Vivian Leigh, who suffered from bipolar disorder, later in life had trouble distinguishing her real life from that of her character Blanche DuBois. Also, Leigh was paid more than Brando for her performance. Both had previously played these roles on the stage.
Stanley Kowalski is the male equivalent of Faulkner’s Dewey Dell who proclaims “I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth”. Here is raw, primal, lustful sexuality that pulses and seduces a reader (or audience).
“Stell-lahhhhh!’”
The poker scene was made famous by Brando’s performance and Kazan’s brilliant direction, but before the 1951 award-winning film was Tennessee Williams’ masterful scene of primitive love and attraction.
“I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”
Blanche DuBois is an archetypal feminine tragic figure on the literary scale with Hemingway’s Lady Brett. But whereas Brett is the domineering, tyrannical alpha female, Blanche’s contribution to our dramatic culture is of the damaged, broken woman, heir to an inheritance that is literally and metaphorically lost.
Tennessee Williams New Orleans play, with the “blue piano” and polka music playing in the background is one our most powerful dramas.
A must read, but like all plays, it must also be seen.
** 2018 - I watched the 1951 film recently and was again amazed at the theatrical tension the play produces, especially when acted out by such talented actors. Interestingly, and sadly, Vivian Leigh, who suffered from bipolar disorder, later in life had trouble distinguishing her real life from that of her character Blanche DuBois. Also, Leigh was paid more than Brando for her performance. Both had previously played these roles on the stage.
October 23, 2022
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play set in New Orleans, from a period of social realism that could be described as a modern tragedy. The play follows two main protagonists, Blanche, and Stanley, husband of Blanche's sister Stella in a complex domestic conflict. The play is set in a period post-Great depression, describing the clash of social classes in new American society where previous segregation in wiped out by the Great depression and divided are forced to merge and live side by side. Stanley is a Polish self-made man, part of the working-class, while Blanche is a descendant of landowners in the Old South, so the tension between them is magnified by their social incompatibilities.
The psychological dichotomy between Blanche and Stella further intensifies the tension that culminates in the tragic act that causes Blanche's demise.
Looking through the lens of Jungian psychology Blanche is a typical representation of archetypal immature, wounded feminine. She is unable to cope with reality and truth, therefore, uses illusion, lies, and manipulation of seduction to get to her goal, which is marriage. In the idealized view of marriage, she wants a man to shield and save her from the reality of the loss and death of her husband, which she is incapable to handle by herself. Emotionally dependent, her regulation of feelings is so immature it is almost unexisting, obvious in her hysteric overreactions. Blanch is also unable to process her grief and address properly the mourning over her dead husband. Her sexuality is completely unconscious and ambivalent, acted out in two extremes, one of chastity and sexual repression and one of promiscuity in drunken sex with younger men, reflecting the fixation in the tragedy of her husband's death. She uses sexuality as another form of escapism from unpleasant, but in the process loses her family fortune, destroys her reputation and chance to live a respectful life she longs for.
"After the death of Allan- intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my heart with..."
Her inability to see the truth, adjust to reality and accept personal and social changes is the fatal flaw of the character that leads her to a tragic end.
Stanley, on the other hand, is a representation of archetypal immature masculine. He could be perceived as confident but is in fact arrogant and dependent on his tyranny. Stanley unconsciously sees Blanche as a threat to his power structure. He is judgemental, projective, and shames and belittles Blache with “truth“. In his “quest for absolute truth“, he is equally deceitful as Blanche, as he uses the truth as another arsenal of weaponry of intimidation to assert control. He also does not shy away from using physical force on women as he has no capacity to regulate emotions and not act it out in a neurotic and violent way. He has something animalistic about him and his sexuality, once described by Blanch as ”brutal desire“. He uses not only phallic power as a weapon to dominate and suppress the feminine, both in his wife Stella and even more so in Blanche. His sexuality is maybe not as unconscious as Blanche's, but equally destructive, as he does not use sexuality to escape reality as Blanch, but to bend reality to his will. Stanley's quest, in which he, in the end, succeeds is to destroy Blanche and cause her demise, and his motivation is unconscious hatred towards the feminine and everything else Blanche is symbolically representing.
Stanley and Blanche are equally driven by the desire that leads to destruction. Trapped in a cycle of violence and lust, both corrupted, immature, toxic, wounded and embedded in internal chaos and madness. The real inequality becomes evident in the difference with which society and their environment treat Blanche and Stanely. Blanche's flaws and madness make her unmarriable, and she is stripped of her worth and dignity, her reputation and sanity are destroyed. She ends up isolated and abandoned by all, even by her sister. In the culmination of her pain , she is put away in the mental institution and stigmatized once and for all as unstable and mentally ill.
Stanley's pathology, on the other hand, is not noticed at all by society. He remains well integrated, respected and loved man in the community, even though he beats and rapes women. He is not stripped of his reputation or dignity and continues his life as a married man with a child, even though his acts of destruction are far more insane and morally corrupted than Blanche's. The rights of being someone's partner in marriage and procreate are not taken away from him as they are from Blanche. He is not put in a mental institution and no one perceives him as mad or mentally unstable. This reinforces Foucault's very obvious suggestion that mental illness and “madness“ are socially constructed.
The lack of sexual repression and free expression of desire which is in Stanley perceived as expectable and acceptable are in Blanche punished most extremely. That shows societal hypocrisy and gender discrepancy, distorted and unjust views on male and female sexuality, tailored to control women and suppress them in the free expression of their sexuality on the collective scale. Men oftentimes get to be unapologetically sexual while women rarely have that luxury without being stripped of their value and dignity.
Blanche and Stanley could be both easily diagnosed with personality disorder, and they both act out deep psychological pathology but one of them will be stigmatized by society, and one of them will even be accepted as normal, and even be praised by some for his strong masculinity. This is how gender inequality works, a lot of times it is not easily detected or perceived, hidden in the shadows of reaction patterns we are sometimes not even aware of.
The psychological dichotomy between Blanche and Stella further intensifies the tension that culminates in the tragic act that causes Blanche's demise.
Looking through the lens of Jungian psychology Blanche is a typical representation of archetypal immature, wounded feminine. She is unable to cope with reality and truth, therefore, uses illusion, lies, and manipulation of seduction to get to her goal, which is marriage. In the idealized view of marriage, she wants a man to shield and save her from the reality of the loss and death of her husband, which she is incapable to handle by herself. Emotionally dependent, her regulation of feelings is so immature it is almost unexisting, obvious in her hysteric overreactions. Blanch is also unable to process her grief and address properly the mourning over her dead husband. Her sexuality is completely unconscious and ambivalent, acted out in two extremes, one of chastity and sexual repression and one of promiscuity in drunken sex with younger men, reflecting the fixation in the tragedy of her husband's death. She uses sexuality as another form of escapism from unpleasant, but in the process loses her family fortune, destroys her reputation and chance to live a respectful life she longs for.
"After the death of Allan- intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my heart with..."
Her inability to see the truth, adjust to reality and accept personal and social changes is the fatal flaw of the character that leads her to a tragic end.
Stanley, on the other hand, is a representation of archetypal immature masculine. He could be perceived as confident but is in fact arrogant and dependent on his tyranny. Stanley unconsciously sees Blanche as a threat to his power structure. He is judgemental, projective, and shames and belittles Blache with “truth“. In his “quest for absolute truth“, he is equally deceitful as Blanche, as he uses the truth as another arsenal of weaponry of intimidation to assert control. He also does not shy away from using physical force on women as he has no capacity to regulate emotions and not act it out in a neurotic and violent way. He has something animalistic about him and his sexuality, once described by Blanch as ”brutal desire“. He uses not only phallic power as a weapon to dominate and suppress the feminine, both in his wife Stella and even more so in Blanche. His sexuality is maybe not as unconscious as Blanche's, but equally destructive, as he does not use sexuality to escape reality as Blanch, but to bend reality to his will. Stanley's quest, in which he, in the end, succeeds is to destroy Blanche and cause her demise, and his motivation is unconscious hatred towards the feminine and everything else Blanche is symbolically representing.
Stanley and Blanche are equally driven by the desire that leads to destruction. Trapped in a cycle of violence and lust, both corrupted, immature, toxic, wounded and embedded in internal chaos and madness. The real inequality becomes evident in the difference with which society and their environment treat Blanche and Stanely. Blanche's flaws and madness make her unmarriable, and she is stripped of her worth and dignity, her reputation and sanity are destroyed. She ends up isolated and abandoned by all, even by her sister. In the culmination of her pain , she is put away in the mental institution and stigmatized once and for all as unstable and mentally ill.
Stanley's pathology, on the other hand, is not noticed at all by society. He remains well integrated, respected and loved man in the community, even though he beats and rapes women. He is not stripped of his reputation or dignity and continues his life as a married man with a child, even though his acts of destruction are far more insane and morally corrupted than Blanche's. The rights of being someone's partner in marriage and procreate are not taken away from him as they are from Blanche. He is not put in a mental institution and no one perceives him as mad or mentally unstable. This reinforces Foucault's very obvious suggestion that mental illness and “madness“ are socially constructed.
The lack of sexual repression and free expression of desire which is in Stanley perceived as expectable and acceptable are in Blanche punished most extremely. That shows societal hypocrisy and gender discrepancy, distorted and unjust views on male and female sexuality, tailored to control women and suppress them in the free expression of their sexuality on the collective scale. Men oftentimes get to be unapologetically sexual while women rarely have that luxury without being stripped of their value and dignity.
Blanche and Stanley could be both easily diagnosed with personality disorder, and they both act out deep psychological pathology but one of them will be stigmatized by society, and one of them will even be accepted as normal, and even be praised by some for his strong masculinity. This is how gender inequality works, a lot of times it is not easily detected or perceived, hidden in the shadows of reaction patterns we are sometimes not even aware of.
October 5, 2016
It is the steamy summer in New Orleans in the late 1940s. Old war buddies have gone to their weekly bowling league after work. Meanwhile, young brides pass the time in their two flat apartment while waiting for their husbands to return. It is amidst this backdrop that begins Tennessee Williams' classic play, A Streetcar Named Desire, which still stands the test of time today and became a classic film featuring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy. This steamy play ran the gamut of human emotions, and for this I rate it 4 stars.
Tennessee Williams introduced the world to characters who have become archetypes for the post-war 1940s. Stella Kowalski, a young bride expecting her first child, who is very much in love with her husband and submits to his every want and need. Her husband, Stanley Kowalski, a war veteran working in a supply company to provide for his wife, and still feeling the need to gather with the men bowling or playing poker after work. Harold Mitchell "Mitch" the bachelor son who looks after his sickly mother. And, of course, the sultry Blanche DuBois, Stella's sister of an undetermined age, the independent, modern woman, who also has a myriad of problems.
Blanche DuBois, fresh off of another failure, has taken a streetcar named Desire to spend the summer with Stella and Stanley Kowalski in their one bedroom apartment. Heightened sexually whereas Stella is submissive, there is obvious tension between Blanche and Stanley from the beginning, with Stella acting as a go between. Not only is there tension, Stanley immediately sees beyond Blanche's gaudy clothes and jewelry and sets out to investigate her past. With only a sheet separating their living arrangements in a sweltering summer, the tension continues to escalate throughout the play.
As Stanley discovers layer upon layer of Blanche's past, Stella is forced to choose between her dominate husband and sister. While very much in love with her husband, as she points out, she still feels a loyalty to her sister and to her past. She is appalled when her husband reveals that Blanche compromised her role as high school English teacher to engage in inappropriate relationships with her students. If this play had taken place thirty years later, I can believe that Stella would have done some digging of her own to clear Blanche's name. Yet, it is clear that Stella's loyalties lie with her husband, and that what makes the denouement of the play all the more shocking for me, as I am sure it did for many others as well.
Tennessee Williams went on to have a hall of fame career as a playwright, including the classics Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie, which have been performed hundreds if not thousands of times over the years. He also was ahead of his time in Desire by discussing social issues such as homosexual relationships, domestic violence and a woman's monetary independence from her husband. While not my absolute favorite play, A Streetcar Named Desire introduced classic characters, and I look forward to seeing them portrayed on film.
Tennessee Williams introduced the world to characters who have become archetypes for the post-war 1940s. Stella Kowalski, a young bride expecting her first child, who is very much in love with her husband and submits to his every want and need. Her husband, Stanley Kowalski, a war veteran working in a supply company to provide for his wife, and still feeling the need to gather with the men bowling or playing poker after work. Harold Mitchell "Mitch" the bachelor son who looks after his sickly mother. And, of course, the sultry Blanche DuBois, Stella's sister of an undetermined age, the independent, modern woman, who also has a myriad of problems.
Blanche DuBois, fresh off of another failure, has taken a streetcar named Desire to spend the summer with Stella and Stanley Kowalski in their one bedroom apartment. Heightened sexually whereas Stella is submissive, there is obvious tension between Blanche and Stanley from the beginning, with Stella acting as a go between. Not only is there tension, Stanley immediately sees beyond Blanche's gaudy clothes and jewelry and sets out to investigate her past. With only a sheet separating their living arrangements in a sweltering summer, the tension continues to escalate throughout the play.
As Stanley discovers layer upon layer of Blanche's past, Stella is forced to choose between her dominate husband and sister. While very much in love with her husband, as she points out, she still feels a loyalty to her sister and to her past. She is appalled when her husband reveals that Blanche compromised her role as high school English teacher to engage in inappropriate relationships with her students. If this play had taken place thirty years later, I can believe that Stella would have done some digging of her own to clear Blanche's name. Yet, it is clear that Stella's loyalties lie with her husband, and that what makes the denouement of the play all the more shocking for me, as I am sure it did for many others as well.
Tennessee Williams went on to have a hall of fame career as a playwright, including the classics Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie, which have been performed hundreds if not thousands of times over the years. He also was ahead of his time in Desire by discussing social issues such as homosexual relationships, domestic violence and a woman's monetary independence from her husband. While not my absolute favorite play, A Streetcar Named Desire introduced classic characters, and I look forward to seeing them portrayed on film.
May 4, 2021
Realmente, no se puede leer la obra sin ver a Brando y a Leigh encarnando a Stanley Kowalski y Blanche DuBois. Hay imágenes de la película de Elia Kazan imposibles de olvidar, que se imponen a la mente sin remedio. Sin embargo, la obra de teatro difiere de ella en algunos aspectos importantes. Empezando por el final, que Hollywood impuso y que es radicalmente distinto al que ideó el autor. También se omitieron las menciones que en la obra se hacen a la homosexualidad y se tuvo que hacer menos evidente la escena de la violación.
La obra es la lucha de dos mundos, ambos movidos por deseo, ambos trágicos y construidos bajo el peso de las circunstancias y en complicidad con un temperamento y un carácter incapaces de sobreponerse a ellas. Este fue el caso de Laura, la hija tullida de El zoo de cristal, y este es el caso de Blanche Dubois, un personaje que también comparte rasgos con Amanda, la manipuladora madre de Laura, que sufre el contraste de vivir una existencia vulgar, rodeada de cosas y personas vulgares, tras una infancia y juventud esplendorosa vivida entre damas y caballeros. Blanche es una víctima del viejo mundo, rico, elegante, clasista y esclavista, apegado a la tierra, a las normas incuestionables y a las tradiciones, un mundo en decadencia.
Decía Tennesse Williams:
Y en medio de la lucha, Stella, la mujer de Stanley y hermana de Blanche, educada y acostumbrada a otros modos y a otros escenarios, se ha adaptado bien al mundo de su marido al que es capaz de perdonar una y otra vez sus ataques de cólera. Puede que, una vez caído el telón, no tarde en descubrir quién es en realidad Stanley Kowalski y reciba así el justo castigo por lo que no quiso impedir, de la misma forma que lo recibió Blanche, trastornada por los remordimientos al haber despreciado antaño a otro ser tan angustiado por sus conflictos personales como ella ahora.
La obra es la lucha de dos mundos, ambos movidos por deseo, ambos trágicos y construidos bajo el peso de las circunstancias y en complicidad con un temperamento y un carácter incapaces de sobreponerse a ellas. Este fue el caso de Laura, la hija tullida de El zoo de cristal, y este es el caso de Blanche Dubois, un personaje que también comparte rasgos con Amanda, la manipuladora madre de Laura, que sufre el contraste de vivir una existencia vulgar, rodeada de cosas y personas vulgares, tras una infancia y juventud esplendorosa vivida entre damas y caballeros. Blanche es una víctima del viejo mundo, rico, elegante, clasista y esclavista, apegado a la tierra, a las normas incuestionables y a las tradiciones, un mundo en decadencia.
“No quiero realismo. Quiero... ¡magia! ¡Sí, sí, magia! Trato de darle eso a la gente. Le tergiverso las cosas. No le digo la verdad Le digo lo que debiera ser la verdad”En el otro lado del ring se encuentra el pragmatismo de un capitalismo que no entiende de honores ni respeta estatus. Stanley es decidido, firme, sin dobleces, sentimental, un ser primario siempre con miedo a que se tambalee su posición de macho alfa, nada amigo de contemporizar, un extranjero que reniega de sus raíces, una fuerza de la naturaleza que, con la ayuda del esnobismo aristocrático de Blanche y de esa idea tan roussoniana sobre lo natural, nos empuja a simpatizar con él en un principio… solo en un principio.
Decía Tennesse Williams:
“No creo en héroes y villanos, creo tan sólo que las personas toman el buen o el mal camino, y no por elección, sino por necesidad o por ciertas influencias que les afectan y todavía no comprenden, por sus circunstancias y por sus antecedentes.”Yo sí creo en buenas y malas personas, yo sí creo que existe el mal y que este no es solo consecuencia de las circunstancias, aunque sí pueden propiciarlo y amplificarlo. Yo sí creo que Stanley Kowalsky es un ser egoísta y ruin, dominante y colérico, un maltratador que enmascara sus miedos y su necesidad de dominación en el afán de rescatar a su familia de las garras de la ninfómana Blanche y a la que impone su justo castigo por sus cuantiosas perversiones. Quizá el final de la película era necesario para contrarrestar esa imagen magnética que Brando transmitía.
Y en medio de la lucha, Stella, la mujer de Stanley y hermana de Blanche, educada y acostumbrada a otros modos y a otros escenarios, se ha adaptado bien al mundo de su marido al que es capaz de perdonar una y otra vez sus ataques de cólera. Puede que, una vez caído el telón, no tarde en descubrir quién es en realidad Stanley Kowalski y reciba así el justo castigo por lo que no quiso impedir, de la misma forma que lo recibió Blanche, trastornada por los remordimientos al haber despreciado antaño a otro ser tan angustiado por sus conflictos personales como ella ahora.
February 2, 2022
A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.
The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter. The London production opened in 1949 with Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, and Renee Asherson and was directed by Laurence Olivier.
The drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is considered by many to be Williams' greatest. After the loss of her family home, Belle Reve, to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi, to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger, married sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.
Blanche is in her thirties and, with no money, she has nowhere else to go. Blanche tells Stella that she has taken a leave of absence from her English-teaching position because of her nerves (which is later revealed to be a lie). Blanche laments the shabbiness of her sister’s two-room flat. She finds Stanley loud and rough, eventually referring to him as "common". Stanley, in return, does not care for Blanche's manners and dislikes her presence. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه نوامبر سال2003میلادی
عنوان: اتوبوسی به نام هوس؛ نویسنده: تنسی ویلیامز؛ مترجم: مرجان بخت مینو؛ تهران، مینو، سال1381؛ در159ص؛ شابک9649056386؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م
نمایشنامه ی «اتوبوسی به نام هوس» در یازده پرده؛ به عنوان بهترین نمایشنامه ی سده ی بیستم میلادی، به شمار است؛ «بلانش دوبوا»، پس از از دست دادن خانه ی خانوادگی خویش، از شهر کوچک «بل ری» در «می سی سی پی»، به محله ای «فرانسوی»، در «نیواورلئان» سفر میکند، تا با خواهر کوچکتر و دارای خانواده ی خود «استلا»، و شوهر او «استنلی کوالسکی» زندگی کند؛ «بلانش» در دهه ی سی زندگی خود است، و پولی ندارد، او جای دیگری هم برای رفتن ندارد؛ «بلانش» به «استلا» میگوید، که به دلیل اعصابش (به دروغ)، از مقام آموزشی خود مرخصی گرفته است؛ «بلانش» از خانه ی کوچک و دو اتاقه ی «استلا»، ابراز ناشادی میکند؛ او «استنلی» را، پرسر و صدا و خشن میبیند، و سرانجام از او، به عنوان فردی پست و عامی نام میبرد؛ اما «استنلی» به رفتارهای «بلانش»، اهمیتی نمیدهد، ولی از حضور او نیز بیزار است؛ ...؛
از این کتاب «الیا کازان»، فیلمی با بازی «ویوین لی» و «مارلون براندو» ساخته است؛ که در سال1951میلادی به نمایش درآمده؛ «بلانش دی بویس (ویوین لی)» دردسرهایی داشته، او پس از اخراج از مدرسه ای که در آن تدریس میکرده، برای دیدار خواهرش «استلا (کیم هانتر)» و شوهر خواهرش «استنلی کووالسکی (مارلون براندو)» میرود؛ «استنلی» که یک قمارباز است، و از بدو ورود «بلانش»، سر ناسازگاری با وی را میگذارد، و از طریق یکی از دوستانش، از گذشتهٔ «��لانش» باخبر میشود و ...؛
نقشها: «مارلون براندو در نقش استنلی کووالسکی»؛ «ویوین لی در نقش بلانش دی بویس»؛ «کیم هانتر در نقش استلا کووالسکی»؛ «کارل مالدن در نقش هارولد میشل»؛ «رودی باند در نقش استیو هابل»؛ «نیک دنیس در نقش پابلو گونزالس»؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 23/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/11/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.
The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter. The London production opened in 1949 with Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, and Renee Asherson and was directed by Laurence Olivier.
The drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is considered by many to be Williams' greatest. After the loss of her family home, Belle Reve, to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi, to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger, married sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.
Blanche is in her thirties and, with no money, she has nowhere else to go. Blanche tells Stella that she has taken a leave of absence from her English-teaching position because of her nerves (which is later revealed to be a lie). Blanche laments the shabbiness of her sister’s two-room flat. She finds Stanley loud and rough, eventually referring to him as "common". Stanley, in return, does not care for Blanche's manners and dislikes her presence. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه نوامبر سال2003میلادی
عنوان: اتوبوسی به نام هوس؛ نویسنده: تنسی ویلیامز؛ مترجم: مرجان بخت مینو؛ تهران، مینو، سال1381؛ در159ص؛ شابک9649056386؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م
نمایشنامه ی «اتوبوسی به نام هوس» در یازده پرده؛ به عنوان بهترین نمایشنامه ی سده ی بیستم میلادی، به شمار است؛ «بلانش دوبوا»، پس از از دست دادن خانه ی خانوادگی خویش، از شهر کوچک «بل ری» در «می سی سی پی»، به محله ای «فرانسوی»، در «نیواورلئان» سفر میکند، تا با خواهر کوچکتر و دارای خانواده ی خود «استلا»، و شوهر او «استنلی کوالسکی» زندگی کند؛ «بلانش» در دهه ی سی زندگی خود است، و پولی ندارد، او جای دیگری هم برای رفتن ندارد؛ «بلانش» به «استلا» میگوید، که به دلیل اعصابش (به دروغ)، از مقام آموزشی خود مرخصی گرفته است؛ «بلانش» از خانه ی کوچک و دو اتاقه ی «استلا»، ابراز ناشادی میکند؛ او «استنلی» را، پرسر و صدا و خشن میبیند، و سرانجام از او، به عنوان فردی پست و عامی نام میبرد؛ اما «استنلی» به رفتارهای «بلانش»، اهمیتی نمیدهد، ولی از حضور او نیز بیزار است؛ ...؛
از این کتاب «الیا کازان»، فیلمی با بازی «ویوین لی» و «مارلون براندو» ساخته است؛ که در سال1951میلادی به نمایش درآمده؛ «بلانش دی بویس (ویوین لی)» دردسرهایی داشته، او پس از اخراج از مدرسه ای که در آن تدریس میکرده، برای دیدار خواهرش «استلا (کیم هانتر)» و شوهر خواهرش «استنلی کووالسکی (مارلون براندو)» میرود؛ «استنلی» که یک قمارباز است، و از بدو ورود «بلانش»، سر ناسازگاری با وی را میگذارد، و از طریق یکی از دوستانش، از گذشتهٔ «��لانش» باخبر میشود و ...؛
نقشها: «مارلون براندو در نقش استنلی کووالسکی»؛ «ویوین لی در نقش بلانش دی بویس»؛ «کیم هانتر در نقش استلا کووالسکی»؛ «کارل مالدن در نقش هارولد میشل»؛ «رودی باند در نقش استیو هابل»؛ «نیک دنیس در نقش پابلو گونزالس»؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 23/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/11/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
April 4, 2016
4.5 stars
Tragic, raw, and suffused with striking imagery and symbolism, this play is a must-read and now one that I must also see. Williams does a tremendous job of evoking the atmosphere of New Orleans during the 1940's – the music, the heat, the people. The prose is lyrical and truly astonishing at times. I felt as if I were a participant in each and every scene.
"The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee."
The vibrant and luckless Blanche DuBois arrives on a streetcar named "Desire" to inhabit the cramped and close quarters of her sister Stella and her husband, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche's duplicitous nature makes for an intriguing character study. The quiet and reserved Stella is the complete opposite of her sister. She shares a passionate relationship with Stanley who is perfectly characterized by Williams:
"Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens."
The atmosphere immediately turns stifling and the tension quickly escalates as the three lives intersect and collide. Unfamiliar with this play, I was surprised at the heavy themes, in particular those of domestic violence and mental illness. This play felt very real and human, extremely powerful and ultimately quite heartbreaking.
Tragic, raw, and suffused with striking imagery and symbolism, this play is a must-read and now one that I must also see. Williams does a tremendous job of evoking the atmosphere of New Orleans during the 1940's – the music, the heat, the people. The prose is lyrical and truly astonishing at times. I felt as if I were a participant in each and every scene.
"The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee."
The vibrant and luckless Blanche DuBois arrives on a streetcar named "Desire" to inhabit the cramped and close quarters of her sister Stella and her husband, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche's duplicitous nature makes for an intriguing character study. The quiet and reserved Stella is the complete opposite of her sister. She shares a passionate relationship with Stanley who is perfectly characterized by Williams:
"Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens."
The atmosphere immediately turns stifling and the tension quickly escalates as the three lives intersect and collide. Unfamiliar with this play, I was surprised at the heavy themes, in particular those of domestic violence and mental illness. This play felt very real and human, extremely powerful and ultimately quite heartbreaking.
May 7, 2018
Okay, first of all, may I just say:
you should see the movie before you read the book.
The thing about this play is that it absolutely relies on tension. And that tension is absolutely there in a quality rendition of this show. But it is not conveyed on page.
Likewise, most of Blanche’s character is in her nuance, in the subtext of each scene where she acts nervous and worried and in how she is framed and in her fear and turmoil. In a character like this, a character full of ambiguity and hurt and angst, how could an on-page rendition be so sympathetic? How could she gain your sympathies despite her flaws?
The answer is that she doesn’t. Until you see the movie and she breaks your fucking heart.
Honestly, I think there is a lot to be said about this play and its connection to the downfall of Southern white life [wow, we have read about that a lot in AP Lit this year]. There is also a lot to be said about its occasionally-weird gay subtext - there’s some explicit textthat the movie cuts because homophobia, but also the fact that this is essentially a love triangle between a woman’s husband and her sister? Which is something the movie plays up, um, kind of a lot. [There’s a scene framing the two sisters as Hollywood lovers and it is weird.]
Also, I’d like to point you all to the comment underneath this status stating that Stanley is a caricature of a straight man and Tenesee Williams just doesn’t understand straight men, because holy shit, that is the funniest thing I have ever read.
But honestly, I think explaining the subtext wouldn’t be the best decision either for spoiler purposes [a lot of the thematic stuff is pretty easy to understand] or for my mental health [I am running off far too little sleep and I don’t think this review is coherent, probably.] What I will say is that you should see the movie, and then read the play and compare the two, and that I really liked this. It made no impact on me when I read it, but it's worth the watch.
Likewise, most of Blanche’s character is in her nuance, in the subtext of each scene where she acts nervous and worried and in how she is framed and in her fear and turmoil. In a character like this, a character full of ambiguity and hurt and angst, how could an on-page rendition be so sympathetic? How could she gain your sympathies despite her flaws?
The answer is that she doesn’t. Until you see the movie and she breaks your fucking heart.
Honestly, I think there is a lot to be said about this play and its connection to the downfall of Southern white life [wow, we have read about that a lot in AP Lit this year]. There is also a lot to be said about its occasionally-weird gay subtext - there’s some explicit text
Also, I’d like to point you all to the comment underneath this status stating that Stanley is a caricature of a straight man and Tenesee Williams just doesn’t understand straight men, because holy shit, that is the funniest thing I have ever read.
But honestly, I think explaining the subtext wouldn’t be the best decision either for spoiler purposes [a lot of the thematic stuff is pretty easy to understand] or for my mental health [I am running off far too little sleep and I don’t think this review is coherent, probably.] What I will say is that you should see the movie, and then read the play and compare the two, and that I really liked this. It made no impact on me when I read it, but it's worth the watch.
August 30, 2019
"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth"—Blanche DuBois
One of the great plays of the American theater, probably the very best Tennessee Williams play, acted first on Broadway by Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski), Kim Hunter (Stella Kowalski), and Blanche DuBois (Jessica Tandy), and it is riveting. I listened to a version of it with James Farentino as Stanley and Rosemary Harris as Blanche, also very good. More disturbing than I ever recalled, passionate, shocking, sad, full of sizzling southern summer heat and sweat and desire:
Marlon Brando yelling “Stella!”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A0p...
Stanley is an animal, a sexual animal, "uncouth," works hard, bowls, play cards, drinks hard, married to Stella, who was formerly from a more "genteel," upper-class family. Blanche arrives after having lost her inheritance, the estate Belle Reve, having been fired as a teacher (for a "dalliance" with a student), and recently kicked out of a low-rent tenement house , but she arrives to visit/stay with her sister and brother-in-law dressed as the southern belle she once was, trying to convince them and her friends (and maybe herself) of the illusion that she never quite left her fine “cultured” life. It is tempting to think of this play as a commentary on American masculinity/sexuality, class, of the struggle between the “refined” Southern aristocracy and the “barbaric” working class, and there’s some evidence for all that:
Stanley and Blanche meet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Trg...
but the play, visceral, lyrical, tragic, deeply sad (and I warn you now for a second time, in a couple places disturbing), pushes back against any easy definitions or interpretations:
Blanche DuBois, at the end, “I have always relied on the kindness of strangers”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_VgD...
The image you are left with is Blanche, a woman in financial ruins—her beautiful young husband had turned out to be gay, she lost her inheritance, she'd been a victim of scandal, and now she is simply trying to seek help from her sister, out of options. She's a single woman without property, she's fragile and vulnerable, she's aging and her attraction to men (crucial in this time because she has no money) is fading, she's possessed by delusions of grandeur, and yet she possesses some strength, some spirit you admire more than just pity, as she fights for a place in an often threatening male world that blames her for her vulnerability.
And seeing it is always better, of course, but I recommend seeing the Brando film version, of course. Amazing literary experience that will never leave you.
One of the great plays of the American theater, probably the very best Tennessee Williams play, acted first on Broadway by Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski), Kim Hunter (Stella Kowalski), and Blanche DuBois (Jessica Tandy), and it is riveting. I listened to a version of it with James Farentino as Stanley and Rosemary Harris as Blanche, also very good. More disturbing than I ever recalled, passionate, shocking, sad, full of sizzling southern summer heat and sweat and desire:
Marlon Brando yelling “Stella!”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A0p...
Stanley is an animal, a sexual animal, "uncouth," works hard, bowls, play cards, drinks hard, married to Stella, who was formerly from a more "genteel," upper-class family. Blanche arrives after having lost her inheritance, the estate Belle Reve, having been fired as a teacher (for a "dalliance" with a student), and recently kicked out of a low-rent tenement house , but she arrives to visit/stay with her sister and brother-in-law dressed as the southern belle she once was, trying to convince them and her friends (and maybe herself) of the illusion that she never quite left her fine “cultured” life. It is tempting to think of this play as a commentary on American masculinity/sexuality, class, of the struggle between the “refined” Southern aristocracy and the “barbaric” working class, and there’s some evidence for all that:
Stanley and Blanche meet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Trg...
but the play, visceral, lyrical, tragic, deeply sad (and I warn you now for a second time, in a couple places disturbing), pushes back against any easy definitions or interpretations:
Blanche DuBois, at the end, “I have always relied on the kindness of strangers”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_VgD...
The image you are left with is Blanche, a woman in financial ruins—her beautiful young husband had turned out to be gay, she lost her inheritance, she'd been a victim of scandal, and now she is simply trying to seek help from her sister, out of options. She's a single woman without property, she's fragile and vulnerable, she's aging and her attraction to men (crucial in this time because she has no money) is fading, she's possessed by delusions of grandeur, and yet she possesses some strength, some spirit you admire more than just pity, as she fights for a place in an often threatening male world that blames her for her vulnerability.
And seeing it is always better, of course, but I recommend seeing the Brando film version, of course. Amazing literary experience that will never leave you.
March 4, 2021
The audiobook was phenomenal…
an absolute joy to listen to. It put energy into my steps on these hilly trails.
I’m still here hiking — but I finished this faster than my hike.
It’s an audible original, a free download for Audible members...
but I still have more hiking to go.
A terrific theatre production .... The actors were fantastic
The sounds and special effects gave this play the emotional integrity that this play deserves.
HUGE THANKS... to you, Anne!!!
Great way to start my morning!!!
an absolute joy to listen to. It put energy into my steps on these hilly trails.
I’m still here hiking — but I finished this faster than my hike.
It’s an audible original, a free download for Audible members...
but I still have more hiking to go.
A terrific theatre production .... The actors were fantastic
The sounds and special effects gave this play the emotional integrity that this play deserves.
HUGE THANKS... to you, Anne!!!
Great way to start my morning!!!
May 3, 2024
[5.0⭐] 𝙐𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙫𝙞́𝙖 𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙤 es una obra clásica del teatro estadounidense escrita por Tennessee Williams en 1947. Al año siguiente, recibió el premio Pulitzer. La obra se centra en Blanche DuBois, una mujer sureña que tiene delirios de grandeza y que se la pasa inventando cosas porque prefiere refugiarse en un mundo ficticio e inventado antes que enfrentar su realidad. Stanley Kowalski, su cuñado, buscará sacarla de ese mundo utilizando su rudeza. Este individuo es inmigrante y pertenece a la clase proletaria, esto es un guiño al sueño americano que tanto se critica por parte de los realistas de la época.
Nos encontramos con una obra de teatro realmente grandiosa, hasta me atrevo a decir que es una de las mejores que he leído y, sin duda, se mereció esa ovación de 30 minutos en el día de su estreno. El autor utiliza los símbolos para demostrar su genialidad y originalidad, algo que se me ha hecho sumamente encantador. Por ello, decidí que era importante desarrollar los símbolos de esta obra para poder comprender toda la carga que tiene.
El primero de ellos vendría a ser el de los nombres, un simbolismo muy simple, pero efectivo. Blanche DuBois es un nombre francés, así que nos deja claro desde la primera instancia que la protagonista tiene ascendencia francesa, así que no es cien por ciento norteamericana. El significado de su nombre es “blanca del bosque”. El color blanco simboliza pureza, inocencia y virtud, revela estas cualidades, aunque lo hacen contrastándolo con la verdadera personalidad de Blanche. Su nombre sugiere que es pura e inocente, pero a medida que avanza la obra nos vamos dando cuenta con facilidad que no es así; es una ilusión que ella tiene de sí misma y que los otros personajes quieren tener, pero no es la realidad. Teme no ser aceptada por Stanley, sus vecinos, su hermana, etc (en sí, le conviene esa imagen). Al final, nos damos cuenta de que su nombre significa lo opuesto en naturaleza y carácter.
En cuanto a su apellido, también contrasta con el primer nombre porque cuando uno piensa en un bosque se le vienen árboles, troncos y madera sólida donde no entra la luz. La personalidad de Blanche es muy frágil psicológicamente hablando (tiene rasgos de algo mental: debilidad en la personalidad o una depresión no curada). En sí, es una persona muy frágil, así que es curioso que se le asocie con un bosque, donde uno no lo atribuye a la fragilidad.
En cuanto a Stella, en latín significa “estrella”. Las estrellas iluminan en medio de la oscuridad, es su característica principal. Ella es un elemento estabilizador frente a la vulnerabilidad de Blanche y la violencia de Stanley.
Los otros nombres remiten a su origen (nacionalidad: polacos, mexicanos, etc). Con esto, el autor busca el choque que se produce entre inmigrantes y los verdaderos nativos de la tierra. Un gran choque de costumbres, vocabulario, oportunidades de trabajo. Por ello, el lector se preguntará: ¿Dónde está acá el sueño americano? ¿Se cumple o no? ¿Estos personajes han tenido todas las oportunidades de ese sueño americano? La respuesta es NO, es una utopía, un sueño, una fantasía. Esta obra es una muestra del no cumplimiento del sueño americano.
En segunda instancia, utiliza el simbolismo respecto a los lugares. Cuando los personajes, particularmente Blanche habla de la hacienda de Belle Reve. Ese es el lugar de la plantación que ellos tenían (en el sur) de algodón y tuvo un pasado de esclavitud, donde la familia se hizo muy rica. La traducción directa es “bello sueño”, así que nos demuestra que hay una tendencia de aferrarse a los sueños, al pasado y a su fantasía. Ella sigue aferrada a algo que perdieron hace rato. El nombre enfatiza esa personalidad poco realista que tiene Blanche.
En cuanto al nombre de las estaciones de la gran vía. 1. Deseo. 2. Cementerio. 3. Los campos elíseos. Para explicar aquello, hay que recordar que la obra se sitúa en New Orleans, es sofocante y muy húmedo cuando hace calor. Es famosa por el charlestón, teatro, etc (hay un ambiente muy artístico). Es interesante ver cómo las instrucciones van en ese orden (las estaciones). La primera parada simboliza el deseo de una mejora en la vida, volver a ese pasado estable económicamente y el deseo en el ámbito de la sensualidad. Luego, viene el cementerio, asociada con la muerte. Es el deseo mal manejado, el que te lleva a la muerte (real o interior). Luego, vienen los campos elíseos, el nombre de la calle en donde viven Stella y Stanley que hace alusión al libro sexto de la Eneida de Virgilio. Ahí, se habla de una parte del inframundo, un lugar donde se daba una recompensa o premio a aquellos que habían muerto virtuosos. Se encuentran en un espacio temporal en el viaje de las almas para el Inframundo a una especie de paraíso. Con respecto a la Eneida de Virgilio, también se caracteriza por una infinita intertextualidad: referencias, frases y alusiones a otros textos literarios.
En tercera instancia, está la simbología de la luz y la oscuridad. No solo en el nombre de Stella (Sófocles en Edipo Rey), sino de verdad y realidad. Cuando hay luz (se enciende una lámpara o hay luz) es porque algo se va a revelar. Cuando hay oscuridad, no son conscientes de algo, están ocultando algo o están mintiendo. Por ejemplo, cuando Blanche y Stanley tienen diferentes actitudes, Blanche tiene aversión a la luz (como una especie de ‘fobia’), así que se esconde o se pone en otro lugar. Ella no quiere ver la verdad, quiere seguir en ese mundo inocente de fantasía, de su pasado y de su gran familia. En cambio, Stanley quiere estar iluminado porque es un personaje muy aterrizado y realista, crudo en sus expresiones. Es brutal en su honestidad, hasta podría decirse que se le pasa la mano. Para Stanley, la luz, es la perfecta manera de revelar las cosas tal como son, él va prendiendo luces mientras que Blanche las va apagando. También, le recuerda a Stella que prenda la luz porque él siente que con la luz puede conocer las cosas. Este conflicto de prender la luz y apagarla es repetitivo y violento.
En cuarta instancia, está la simbología del color. El primero que aparece es el color blanco del nombre de Blanche, que ya se ha mencionado con anterioridad. Luego, están los colores primarios (fuertes y muy determinados) como el azul, amarillo, rojo, etc. Entonces, eso también da cuenta del teatro plástico de Williams (recurso y técnica dramática).
Aquí, el rojo es bien convencional: simboliza el amor, la pasión, la sangre. También, hay en la ropa roja como una seducción de la mujer a los hombres.
El azul es bastante potente. Está en los pantalones y representa la fuerza, la masculinidad, etc. En la escena del poker, donde están los amigos de Stanley, todos están vestidos con colores sólidos (blusas azules, un poco de color morado, hay rojo y verde). Esos hombre están en toda la brutalidad y expresando su lado brutal (gritan, apuestan, beben). Los colores son una confrontación y choque no solo de inmigrantes y habitantes de USA, sino que también entre personajes femeninos y masculinos.
El piano también es azul. No es nada cálido, es color frío. De él, se escucha la música del blues y el color de piano tiene que ver con el estado psicológico de los personajes: soledad, necesidad de amor, depresión, etc. Las emociones de Blanche son bastante azules y el piano también acompaña la escena en que Stanley vence a Blanche.
En quinta instancia, tenemos música simbólica. Hay una polca varsoviana, donde esa música trae recuerdos y se identifica con la nacionalidad de Stanley.
En sexta y última instancia, hay simbología con los animales. Blanche se asocia a una polilla: un animal pequeño que todo el mundo mata y que no es precisamente agradable. Revolotean y buscan la luz, mueren achicharradas en las lámparas. Mueren con la luz (la verdad) y tienen un vuelo muy incierto. También, tiene la carga del ciclo natural de la polilla: tienen que pasar por todo un ciclo hasta que llegan a ser lo que son (está asociado con un significado muy profundo, de reconstrucción y de rehacerse como persona: por desgracia, por más que Blanche le pone empeño, su salud no se lo permite).
En cuanto a Stanley, se asocia con los monos por su comportamiento salvaje. Ve su relación con las mujeres como un ejercicio de poder (cuando necesita algo, se lo tienen que hacer), es el más machista y tiene una masculinidad muy mal entendida.
Finalmente, podemos afirmar que se trata de una obra muy compleja y que está cargada de símbolos. La pieza sigue resonando en la actualidad por su exploración de la psicología humana y sus temas atemporales. Sus personajes son realmente humanos y la trama es muy realista, el autor deja en evidencia los diferentes matices que hay en la vida cotidiana. Todo esto constituye el que sea considerada como una obra maestra teatral y que se haya ganado un premio Pulitzer.
Nos encontramos con una obra de teatro realmente grandiosa, hasta me atrevo a decir que es una de las mejores que he leído y, sin duda, se mereció esa ovación de 30 minutos en el día de su estreno. El autor utiliza los símbolos para demostrar su genialidad y originalidad, algo que se me ha hecho sumamente encantador. Por ello, decidí que era importante desarrollar los símbolos de esta obra para poder comprender toda la carga que tiene.
El primero de ellos vendría a ser el de los nombres, un simbolismo muy simple, pero efectivo. Blanche DuBois es un nombre francés, así que nos deja claro desde la primera instancia que la protagonista tiene ascendencia francesa, así que no es cien por ciento norteamericana. El significado de su nombre es “blanca del bosque”. El color blanco simboliza pureza, inocencia y virtud, revela estas cualidades, aunque lo hacen contrastándolo con la verdadera personalidad de Blanche. Su nombre sugiere que es pura e inocente, pero a medida que avanza la obra nos vamos dando cuenta con facilidad que no es así; es una ilusión que ella tiene de sí misma y que los otros personajes quieren tener, pero no es la realidad. Teme no ser aceptada por Stanley, sus vecinos, su hermana, etc (en sí, le conviene esa imagen). Al final, nos damos cuenta de que su nombre significa lo opuesto en naturaleza y carácter.
En cuanto a su apellido, también contrasta con el primer nombre porque cuando uno piensa en un bosque se le vienen árboles, troncos y madera sólida donde no entra la luz. La personalidad de Blanche es muy frágil psicológicamente hablando (tiene rasgos de algo mental: debilidad en la personalidad o una depresión no curada). En sí, es una persona muy frágil, así que es curioso que se le asocie con un bosque, donde uno no lo atribuye a la fragilidad.
En cuanto a Stella, en latín significa “estrella”. Las estrellas iluminan en medio de la oscuridad, es su característica principal. Ella es un elemento estabilizador frente a la vulnerabilidad de Blanche y la violencia de Stanley.
Los otros nombres remiten a su origen (nacionalidad: polacos, mexicanos, etc). Con esto, el autor busca el choque que se produce entre inmigrantes y los verdaderos nativos de la tierra. Un gran choque de costumbres, vocabulario, oportunidades de trabajo. Por ello, el lector se preguntará: ¿Dónde está acá el sueño americano? ¿Se cumple o no? ¿Estos personajes han tenido todas las oportunidades de ese sueño americano? La respuesta es NO, es una utopía, un sueño, una fantasía. Esta obra es una muestra del no cumplimiento del sueño americano.
En segunda instancia, utiliza el simbolismo respecto a los lugares. Cuando los personajes, particularmente Blanche habla de la hacienda de Belle Reve. Ese es el lugar de la plantación que ellos tenían (en el sur) de algodón y tuvo un pasado de esclavitud, donde la familia se hizo muy rica. La traducción directa es “bello sueño”, así que nos demuestra que hay una tendencia de aferrarse a los sueños, al pasado y a su fantasía. Ella sigue aferrada a algo que perdieron hace rato. El nombre enfatiza esa personalidad poco realista que tiene Blanche.
En cuanto al nombre de las estaciones de la gran vía. 1. Deseo. 2. Cementerio. 3. Los campos elíseos. Para explicar aquello, hay que recordar que la obra se sitúa en New Orleans, es sofocante y muy húmedo cuando hace calor. Es famosa por el charlestón, teatro, etc (hay un ambiente muy artístico). Es interesante ver cómo las instrucciones van en ese orden (las estaciones). La primera parada simboliza el deseo de una mejora en la vida, volver a ese pasado estable económicamente y el deseo en el ámbito de la sensualidad. Luego, viene el cementerio, asociada con la muerte. Es el deseo mal manejado, el que te lleva a la muerte (real o interior). Luego, vienen los campos elíseos, el nombre de la calle en donde viven Stella y Stanley que hace alusión al libro sexto de la Eneida de Virgilio. Ahí, se habla de una parte del inframundo, un lugar donde se daba una recompensa o premio a aquellos que habían muerto virtuosos. Se encuentran en un espacio temporal en el viaje de las almas para el Inframundo a una especie de paraíso. Con respecto a la Eneida de Virgilio, también se caracteriza por una infinita intertextualidad: referencias, frases y alusiones a otros textos literarios.
En tercera instancia, está la simbología de la luz y la oscuridad. No solo en el nombre de Stella (Sófocles en Edipo Rey), sino de verdad y realidad. Cuando hay luz (se enciende una lámpara o hay luz) es porque algo se va a revelar. Cuando hay oscuridad, no son conscientes de algo, están ocultando algo o están mintiendo. Por ejemplo, cuando Blanche y Stanley tienen diferentes actitudes, Blanche tiene aversión a la luz (como una especie de ‘fobia’), así que se esconde o se pone en otro lugar. Ella no quiere ver la verdad, quiere seguir en ese mundo inocente de fantasía, de su pasado y de su gran familia. En cambio, Stanley quiere estar iluminado porque es un personaje muy aterrizado y realista, crudo en sus expresiones. Es brutal en su honestidad, hasta podría decirse que se le pasa la mano. Para Stanley, la luz, es la perfecta manera de revelar las cosas tal como son, él va prendiendo luces mientras que Blanche las va apagando. También, le recuerda a Stella que prenda la luz porque él siente que con la luz puede conocer las cosas. Este conflicto de prender la luz y apagarla es repetitivo y violento.
En cuarta instancia, está la simbología del color. El primero que aparece es el color blanco del nombre de Blanche, que ya se ha mencionado con anterioridad. Luego, están los colores primarios (fuertes y muy determinados) como el azul, amarillo, rojo, etc. Entonces, eso también da cuenta del teatro plástico de Williams (recurso y técnica dramática).
Aquí, el rojo es bien convencional: simboliza el amor, la pasión, la sangre. También, hay en la ropa roja como una seducción de la mujer a los hombres.
El azul es bastante potente. Está en los pantalones y representa la fuerza, la masculinidad, etc. En la escena del poker, donde están los amigos de Stanley, todos están vestidos con colores sólidos (blusas azules, un poco de color morado, hay rojo y verde). Esos hombre están en toda la brutalidad y expresando su lado brutal (gritan, apuestan, beben). Los colores son una confrontación y choque no solo de inmigrantes y habitantes de USA, sino que también entre personajes femeninos y masculinos.
El piano también es azul. No es nada cálido, es color frío. De él, se escucha la música del blues y el color de piano tiene que ver con el estado psicológico de los personajes: soledad, necesidad de amor, depresión, etc. Las emociones de Blanche son bastante azules y el piano también acompaña la escena en que Stanley vence a Blanche.
En quinta instancia, tenemos música simbólica. Hay una polca varsoviana, donde esa música trae recuerdos y se identifica con la nacionalidad de Stanley.
En sexta y última instancia, hay simbología con los animales. Blanche se asocia a una polilla: un animal pequeño que todo el mundo mata y que no es precisamente agradable. Revolotean y buscan la luz, mueren achicharradas en las lámparas. Mueren con la luz (la verdad) y tienen un vuelo muy incierto. También, tiene la carga del ciclo natural de la polilla: tienen que pasar por todo un ciclo hasta que llegan a ser lo que son (está asociado con un significado muy profundo, de reconstrucción y de rehacerse como persona: por desgracia, por más que Blanche le pone empeño, su salud no se lo permite).
En cuanto a Stanley, se asocia con los monos por su comportamiento salvaje. Ve su relación con las mujeres como un ejercicio de poder (cuando necesita algo, se lo tienen que hacer), es el más machista y tiene una masculinidad muy mal entendida.
Finalmente, podemos afirmar que se trata de una obra muy compleja y que está cargada de símbolos. La pieza sigue resonando en la actualidad por su exploración de la psicología humana y sus temas atemporales. Sus personajes son realmente humanos y la trama es muy realista, el autor deja en evidencia los diferentes matices que hay en la vida cotidiana. Todo esto constituye el que sea considerada como una obra maestra teatral y que se haya ganado un premio Pulitzer.
October 13, 2024
I first read "A Streetcar Named Desire" when I was a kid. It is my favorite play, and I've read it and taught it several times. I have watched the classic 1951 film many times over a 20+ year span.
This recent adult rereading of "Streetcar" felt like getting gut-punched. It is a nasty, nasty story of lust, mental instability, and metaphor of a changing South, rapidly industrializing manufacturing companies from the North.
It's a seminal work in Southern Literary Renaissance- the Southern Gothic, and a harrowing story of lost love. Blanche, Stella, Stanley and Mitch will forever be in the minds of those who read this deeply, dark play of lust, violence, of sexuality and hypocrisy. It is both an unsettling metaphor, and a reminder of harsh reality.
For those who have never read the play, it's the story of fading Mississippi Southern Belle and former English teacher, the iconic Blanche DuBois who has lost everything. With nowhere else to go, she finds herself at her sister Stella’s and her brutish, yet highly sexually charged brother-in law, Stanley Kowalski's mercy in a squalid New Orleans apartment.
Blanche's flighty persona and pathological lies about her sordid past is too much for Stanley to bear- and he sets out to destroy her reputation because of his need to control the situation. Especially his ideas of realism and fantasy are the opposite of Blanche’s, with Stella and his friend Mitch caught in the middle of their battle of wits.
Blanche states, "I don't want realism, I want magic" defiantly as she attempts to hold on to her dignity, and from here, after all her secrets are revealed, including her ill-fated marriage to Allan Gray, and her questionable relationship with one of her former students- all lead to a haunting, cruel fate.
The play is filled with bitter dialogue that will haunt the reader, as Blanche utters "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers".
The 1951 definitive film adaptation starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando is equally devastating as the play itself. Their indelible performances live on as the flighty, and devastating Blanche; while Brando of course stole hearts with his heart-stopping, shirtless, and animalistic performance. Kim Hunter and Karl Malden also lent fine support as Stella and Mitch, and like Ms. Leigh, and except for Mr. Brando, all won Academy Awards for their performances.
Postscript:
I also feel incredibly privileged I got to see Cate Blanchett perform Streetcar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in what I call one of the five best performances I have ever seen live, which was a touring production from the Sydney Theater Company back in 2009.
Her Blanche has become embedded in my brain- and I was glad she was able to play a variation of Blanche in Woody Allen's film "Blue Jasmine". During the three hours I spent watching Ms. Blanchett duel with Joel Edgerton’s Stanley, the ghosts of Leigh and Brando were quietly held off on the wings of the theater.
This recent adult rereading of "Streetcar" felt like getting gut-punched. It is a nasty, nasty story of lust, mental instability, and metaphor of a changing South, rapidly industrializing manufacturing companies from the North.
It's a seminal work in Southern Literary Renaissance- the Southern Gothic, and a harrowing story of lost love. Blanche, Stella, Stanley and Mitch will forever be in the minds of those who read this deeply, dark play of lust, violence, of sexuality and hypocrisy. It is both an unsettling metaphor, and a reminder of harsh reality.
For those who have never read the play, it's the story of fading Mississippi Southern Belle and former English teacher, the iconic Blanche DuBois who has lost everything. With nowhere else to go, she finds herself at her sister Stella’s and her brutish, yet highly sexually charged brother-in law, Stanley Kowalski's mercy in a squalid New Orleans apartment.
Blanche's flighty persona and pathological lies about her sordid past is too much for Stanley to bear- and he sets out to destroy her reputation because of his need to control the situation. Especially his ideas of realism and fantasy are the opposite of Blanche’s, with Stella and his friend Mitch caught in the middle of their battle of wits.
Blanche states, "I don't want realism, I want magic" defiantly as she attempts to hold on to her dignity, and from here, after all her secrets are revealed, including her ill-fated marriage to Allan Gray, and her questionable relationship with one of her former students- all lead to a haunting, cruel fate.
The play is filled with bitter dialogue that will haunt the reader, as Blanche utters "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers".
The 1951 definitive film adaptation starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando is equally devastating as the play itself. Their indelible performances live on as the flighty, and devastating Blanche; while Brando of course stole hearts with his heart-stopping, shirtless, and animalistic performance. Kim Hunter and Karl Malden also lent fine support as Stella and Mitch, and like Ms. Leigh, and except for Mr. Brando, all won Academy Awards for their performances.
Postscript:
I also feel incredibly privileged I got to see Cate Blanchett perform Streetcar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in what I call one of the five best performances I have ever seen live, which was a touring production from the Sydney Theater Company back in 2009.
Her Blanche has become embedded in my brain- and I was glad she was able to play a variation of Blanche in Woody Allen's film "Blue Jasmine". During the three hours I spent watching Ms. Blanchett duel with Joel Edgerton’s Stanley, the ghosts of Leigh and Brando were quietly held off on the wings of the theater.
March 2, 2016
It's the late 1940's and I could visualize the setting of the New Orleans French Quarter (love it) and hear the jazzy blues music playing thru the window as Tennessee Williams brings to life the characters of a very well-built Stanley, his better-half Stella, and her delusional, whiskey-drinking southern belle of a sister Blanche who is in town for an "extended" visit.
With two women and one hot-tempered, suspicious man in a dinky one bedroom flat, trouble starts brewing at the onset and never lets up until the ill-fated end.
"Whoever you are.......I have always counted on the kindness of strangers."
As a first time read for me, the story behind A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE was a complete surprise as were the multitude of controversial subject matters often understated in presentation throughout the play, but still.......
A powerful and emotional drama. Loved it! (need to get my hands on a copy of the film version with Brando and Leigh.....fast)
October 17, 2017
“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields”
There is a certain high you feel when you read a classic. It's not one that can be repeatable or interchangeable. It attaches on to you and if it's good enough. It might never leave your system.
Enter, our setting: New Orleans in the late 1940s, post second world war and the American Dream is thick in the atmosphere. Jazz and sex and booze and gambling run wild on the streets.
Enter, our characters: Stanley Kowalski, Stella and Blanche DuBois. All three damaged and broken. All three deliciously raptured in our plot.
Enter, our Story: Their worlds are about to take a 360 degree turn when emotion, the summer heat, lust, manipulation, cleverness but mostly desire come alive and off the pages written by Tennessee Williams.
_______________
Touch
Anyone who picks up A Streetcar Named Desire knows they are going to be in for a story beyond the story. The writing screams hidden metaphors, and imagery that makes you want to dance with Blanche, play poker with Stanley, cry with Stella and be apart of the gang under New Orleans moon.
The story was palpable. It felt like I could touch the characters hearts and minds and it would be okay because they would let me, because Tennessee crafted the story in a way that those who are patient and would allow the characters to touch your hearts... It could work the other way around too.
Smell
There's a certain warmth you have when you come down to your moms cooking or it's Saturday morning and you can smell breakfast downstairs.
The atmosphere that surrounded me throughout reading this script was electric, it smelt like warm bread and then changed to whiskey-filled game nights. There was never a still moment in the world we step foot in.
Taste
There are so many different types of desire and lust. I could taste all of them in this play. It was as if each had a distinct flavour and every-time a conflict occurred in the plotline, I felt it.
I think the manner that Williams approached many different aspects and issues in this book was so strong and relative to the time that this play was published in. This was a time when being in the LGBT community was considered a crime that could be punished and a psychological disease that could be treated. This was a time when being a 'southern belle' was the only way to be accepted as a woman. This was a time when domestic abuse was considered normal and just part of the marriage.
I could go on and on and list the different themes that this story approached, but I'm just going say that there was not a single tasteless moment in this play. It may have been bitter, or sweet or even sour. But never tasteless.
Hear
New Orleans in the 1940's and this novel both have the same tune that plays back. The Blue Piano, the jazz, the love, the instability, the desire. It was a melody that played back and played loud through and through.
Their was a powerful voltage that rang through the soundtrack, and it was like every-time you get close you get an electric shock that makes you alive inside and even though you know it's bad to like it. You want more.
Sound like a high yet?
See
When you think of desire, what comes inside your head?
There is a certain high you feel when you read a classic. It's not one that can be repeatable or interchangeable. It attaches on to you and if it's good enough. It might never leave your system.
Enter, our setting: New Orleans in the late 1940s, post second world war and the American Dream is thick in the atmosphere. Jazz and sex and booze and gambling run wild on the streets.
Enter, our characters: Stanley Kowalski, Stella and Blanche DuBois. All three damaged and broken. All three deliciously raptured in our plot.
Enter, our Story: Their worlds are about to take a 360 degree turn when emotion, the summer heat, lust, manipulation, cleverness but mostly desire come alive and off the pages written by Tennessee Williams.
_______________
Touch
Anyone who picks up A Streetcar Named Desire knows they are going to be in for a story beyond the story. The writing screams hidden metaphors, and imagery that makes you want to dance with Blanche, play poker with Stanley, cry with Stella and be apart of the gang under New Orleans moon.
The story was palpable. It felt like I could touch the characters hearts and minds and it would be okay because they would let me, because Tennessee crafted the story in a way that those who are patient and would allow the characters to touch your hearts... It could work the other way around too.
Smell
There's a certain warmth you have when you come down to your moms cooking or it's Saturday morning and you can smell breakfast downstairs.
The atmosphere that surrounded me throughout reading this script was electric, it smelt like warm bread and then changed to whiskey-filled game nights. There was never a still moment in the world we step foot in.
Taste
There are so many different types of desire and lust. I could taste all of them in this play. It was as if each had a distinct flavour and every-time a conflict occurred in the plotline, I felt it.
I think the manner that Williams approached many different aspects and issues in this book was so strong and relative to the time that this play was published in. This was a time when being in the LGBT community was considered a crime that could be punished and a psychological disease that could be treated. This was a time when being a 'southern belle' was the only way to be accepted as a woman. This was a time when domestic abuse was considered normal and just part of the marriage.
I could go on and on and list the different themes that this story approached, but I'm just going say that there was not a single tasteless moment in this play. It may have been bitter, or sweet or even sour. But never tasteless.
Hear
New Orleans in the 1940's and this novel both have the same tune that plays back. The Blue Piano, the jazz, the love, the instability, the desire. It was a melody that played back and played loud through and through.
Their was a powerful voltage that rang through the soundtrack, and it was like every-time you get close you get an electric shock that makes you alive inside and even though you know it's bad to like it. You want more.
Sound like a high yet?
See
When you think of desire, what comes inside your head?
August 12, 2013
There's a sort of invisible thread from Madame Bovary to A Streetcar Named Desire, which in its route gets tied up in a hot whorehouse and wraps vainly around the cosmetics section of a pharmacy in the Southern United States before knotting at its terminus in New Orleans. I find it almost criminal how often people mistake Blanche duBois' whimsy for female frailty, for I think she is an almost unnaturally strong character; far, far moreso than her timid sister Stella. Perhaps it is because her foil, and diametric opposite, Stanley is so much so the iron casting of masculine strength and violence, that make Blanche seem to the reader/viewer so relatively weak. But the play is dominated by the very different strengths of these enormous characters: Stanley's violent force and Blanche's imaginative power.
Blanche, like her French-bourgeois predecessor, Emma Bovary, has an old fashioned ideal of romance which she cannot reconcile with her amorous experiences. Unlike Emma, Blanche has a much more sordid history, and as a result has become the battleground between her vain illusions and her knowing disillusionment. Having fallen in love with a gay boy in her youth, who subsequently died, she sought love in the many men of the local army camp, living a prostitute's kind of life, and even had an affair with a young male student, until she lost her family estate, Belle Reve (presumably from "belle rêve," french for "beautiful dream" - and appropriately a common name for sanitariums, along with belle vue) which she lost to debtors. Blanche's world: her home, her job, her love (or search therefor), everything, she loses, and flees her soiled reputation to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski. She has a passionate imagination, which is her last remaining crutch of her fragile sanity:
The story of Stella and Stanley is a time-creep of the opposite orientation: Stella is made aware of the dangers and disturbances of a future with Stanley by the mistreatment of her sister. Stella sheds her luxurious tears at the the curtain close as a rueful acknowledgement of the tension between reality and illusion. While she cannot fully believe Blanche's story, she cannot bring herself to fully deny it either. Her vision of Stanley, of her sister, and of her life spread out ahead of her are forever changed by what has transpired. Though she stays with Stanley, her relationship with him is tainted with something of mistrust and fear.
Illusion in the play, the main funhouse mirror, is the illusion of appearance. Everything has a surface and an interior, and there is a struggle, a contradiction, between the veneer of appearance and the truth of substance. Blanche becomes obsessed with her appearance, rather than reconciling herself with the maelstrom of emotion and fear which boils beneath the surface, she suffocates her own Self by the feint play of her made-up appearance. She has an imagination which approaches prolepsis in its improvisational fervor. She always has a lie, a fraud, a gloss-over for the truth which is black inside of her. She is fearful of the light, which not only shows her aging appearance, signs of aging she she cannot cover-up, but is also symbolic for the truths which are rising like slag to the surface, revealing the cold worn metal beneath. What she cannot escape is that the world does not have the magic which she seeks, the most powerful force around her is truth, and it is truth which she feels she needs to escape. The tension between truth and "magic" eventually destroys her psyche.
For Stanley, escape, illusion, is obtained through vice: drinking, gambling, domestic abuse and violence. His fears of incompetence and undeserving are evaded through his violent actions, which both evade questioning yet also show his hand. He is mirrored man to Blanche, and she the revealing pier-glass to him. Because they are so opposed, they reveal the truths in each other's characters. Stanley's violence is incompatible with Blanche's romantic visions of the world, particularly her vision of men. In Stanley she seems a savage character, almost like the stock ruffian of a Spanish romance, but one which is violent even to her, which is violent in its uncovering of her secrets: one which is deliberately cruel. This deliberate cruelty on the part of Stanley is something which Blanche finds "the only thing not forgivable" and the only thing which has the true power to shatter her war-worn illusions. For Stanley, Blanche represents the world which shares his wife, but which he fears has a stronger, atavistic claim on her. He can never offer Stella money or blissful security, he can never offer her culture. Blanche is the very manifestation of these ideals, and her romantic vision of the world is alluring to all around her, her imaginative power is a danger to Stanley's marriage, because it is a reminded to him and to Stella of the kind of life which they can never have with each other.
Blanche, like her French-bourgeois predecessor, Emma Bovary, has an old fashioned ideal of romance which she cannot reconcile with her amorous experiences. Unlike Emma, Blanche has a much more sordid history, and as a result has become the battleground between her vain illusions and her knowing disillusionment. Having fallen in love with a gay boy in her youth, who subsequently died, she sought love in the many men of the local army camp, living a prostitute's kind of life, and even had an affair with a young male student, until she lost her family estate, Belle Reve (presumably from "belle rêve," french for "beautiful dream" - and appropriately a common name for sanitariums, along with belle vue) which she lost to debtors. Blanche's world: her home, her job, her love (or search therefor), everything, she loses, and flees her soiled reputation to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski. She has a passionate imagination, which is her last remaining crutch of her fragile sanity:
“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth. And it that's sinful, then let me be damned for it!”Her desperation for romance, for magic, in her life is the only avenue remaining for her escape. That's what Streetcar Names Desire is about: escape. Escape from the shameful past, drinking to escape from the dully painful present, and escape from the violent future. Blanche eventually retreats fully into her own self-delusions of romantic escape when her past creeps unexpectedly into the present.
The story of Stella and Stanley is a time-creep of the opposite orientation: Stella is made aware of the dangers and disturbances of a future with Stanley by the mistreatment of her sister. Stella sheds her luxurious tears at the the curtain close as a rueful acknowledgement of the tension between reality and illusion. While she cannot fully believe Blanche's story, she cannot bring herself to fully deny it either. Her vision of Stanley, of her sister, and of her life spread out ahead of her are forever changed by what has transpired. Though she stays with Stanley, her relationship with him is tainted with something of mistrust and fear.
Illusion in the play, the main funhouse mirror, is the illusion of appearance. Everything has a surface and an interior, and there is a struggle, a contradiction, between the veneer of appearance and the truth of substance. Blanche becomes obsessed with her appearance, rather than reconciling herself with the maelstrom of emotion and fear which boils beneath the surface, she suffocates her own Self by the feint play of her made-up appearance. She has an imagination which approaches prolepsis in its improvisational fervor. She always has a lie, a fraud, a gloss-over for the truth which is black inside of her. She is fearful of the light, which not only shows her aging appearance, signs of aging she she cannot cover-up, but is also symbolic for the truths which are rising like slag to the surface, revealing the cold worn metal beneath. What she cannot escape is that the world does not have the magic which she seeks, the most powerful force around her is truth, and it is truth which she feels she needs to escape. The tension between truth and "magic" eventually destroys her psyche.
For Stanley, escape, illusion, is obtained through vice: drinking, gambling, domestic abuse and violence. His fears of incompetence and undeserving are evaded through his violent actions, which both evade questioning yet also show his hand. He is mirrored man to Blanche, and she the revealing pier-glass to him. Because they are so opposed, they reveal the truths in each other's characters. Stanley's violence is incompatible with Blanche's romantic visions of the world, particularly her vision of men. In Stanley she seems a savage character, almost like the stock ruffian of a Spanish romance, but one which is violent even to her, which is violent in its uncovering of her secrets: one which is deliberately cruel. This deliberate cruelty on the part of Stanley is something which Blanche finds "the only thing not forgivable" and the only thing which has the true power to shatter her war-worn illusions. For Stanley, Blanche represents the world which shares his wife, but which he fears has a stronger, atavistic claim on her. He can never offer Stella money or blissful security, he can never offer her culture. Blanche is the very manifestation of these ideals, and her romantic vision of the world is alluring to all around her, her imaginative power is a danger to Stanley's marriage, because it is a reminded to him and to Stella of the kind of life which they can never have with each other.
"They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!"Desire and death: the only ways to reach paradise!
March 3, 2021
This is not a narrated play but an exceptional theater production performed for Audible. The director, Robert O'Hara, and the actors knew there would be no audience for their scheduled play due to the pandemic so they performed it for Audible. And what a performance it was! The experience was intimate and intense. Between the sound effects and the superb acting I felt like I was at the theater and could "see" the play in my mind. The interpretations of the roles were slightly different though still remained true to the classic version. Audra McDonald (6 time Tony winner) was incredible as Blanche DuBois; bold and forthright instead of fragile, she amused and chilled and then broke my heart in the final scene. I loved Carla Gugino as a warm and level-headed Stella. And Ariel Shafir was an incredibly powerful Stanley, alternately charismatic, repulsive, sexual and terrifying.
Bravo!
There is an interesting interview with the director after the performance.
Bravo!
There is an interesting interview with the director after the performance.
April 7, 2017
بلانش: چطور تونستی دیشب برگردی اینجا؟ چرا بایس باهاش خوابیده باشی؟
استلا:اما بالاخره یک چیزهائی هست که در تاریکی بین زن و مرد اتفاق می افته ،بطوری که هرچیز دیگه رو بی اهمیت میکنه
بلانش:این که داری میگی هوس وحشی و پستی است.فقط هوس؛
اسم همون اتوبوس پر سروصدائی که مرتبا از این خیابون به اون خیابون میره
بعضی کتابها شاهکارند
چون با تمام کردن و بستن کتاب ،هنوز در ذهنت ورق میخورند
نه اینکه کتاب به سبک سیال ذهن و غیر خطی باشد بلکه در طول کتاب، افکارت دائما در حال تغییر بوده اند
بعد خواندن نمایشنامه، فیلمش را دیدم و دوباره ذهنم درگیر حلاجی شخصیت ها شد
...
شخصیت های اصلی داستان:بلانش - استلا(خواهر بلانش)-استانلی(شوهر استلا) و
(میچ (عاشق بلانش
تنسی ویلیامز ابتدا شخصیت های داستانش را در جَوی آرام نشان می دهد و بعد کم کم چاشنی خشونت و هوس را به آن می افزاید و تمام آنچه در مورد شخصیت ها گمان برده بودی همه کم رنگ می شوند و رنگی دیگر می گیرند
از بلانش بدت می اید و بعد طرفش رامی گیری و حتی از بیچارگی اش کم می ماند
...گریه ات بگیرد و باز
از استانلی هم همینطور
البته گریه برای استانلی را فراموش کنید
:)
بلانش و استانلی خواه ناخواه باید دشمن هم شوند یکی هنوز از اصالت خویش دم می زند و دیگری به هیچ قانونی که ریشه در گذشته داشته باشد پا��بند نیست حتی محرمات
این جامعه نابسامان وآشفته از لحاظ اخلاقی را در ناطور دشت و راننده تاکسی هم می بینیم
بلانش گذشته ای تلخ دارد و گاه و بیگاه برایش تداعی می شود و رنج می برد.گذشته های تلخ پر از مردان بد، پشت سرش تلنبار شده اند
استلا به استانلی میگوید: تو بلانش روموقع دختریش ندیدی.هیچکس، هیچکس به اندازه اون خوش قلب و خوش باور نبود اما آدمهائی مثه تو ازش سوءاستفاده کردن و مجبورش کردن عوض شه
بلانش با دیدن مردان نقش بازی می کند تا یکی از آن ها را بفریبد و برای خودش پناهگاهی بیابد.او از روشنایی بیزار است چون صورتش را نمی پوشاند و
!! سن واقعی اش را نشان می دهد .هرروز خدا دوش آب داغ می گیرد
میچ دیشب بجز یک ماچ چیزی گیرش نیومده.من فقط بهش ماچ دادم.میخام احترام منو نگه داره و مردها چیزی رو که آسان گیر بیاد دوس ندارن.از طرف دیگه زود سرد میشن،بخصوص اگه سن دختره بیشتر از سی سال باشه.اونا خیال میکنن دختری که سنش از سی سال تجاوز کرد باید درشو بذاره و من نمیخام اینطور
! شه.البته میچ نمیدونه-من سن حقیقی خودمو بهش نگفتم
شاید در جامعه ای که ظاهر این همه اهمیت را دارد نقش بازی کردن را اجباری نامید و بتوان تبرئه اش کرد،ولی تمسخر کردن میچ، با گفتن جمله زیر به فرانسوی، چیز دیگری می گوید
من مادام کاملیا هستم و تو آرماند
!می خواهی امشب با من بخوابی؟ نمی فهمی چی میگم ؟ آه، بسی افسوس
مادام کاملیا اثر الکساندر دوما(پسر)،داستان زنی بدکاره بود که با عشق خالصانه آرماند، دگرگون میشود.بلانش به زبان فرانسوی -که میچ ان را نمی فهمد-خود را مادام کاملیا می نامند اما در طول داستان با زبان انگلیسی خود را زنی پاک وتنها و شکست خورده عشق نشان میدهد تا میچ را عاشق خود کند
یکی از دوستانش استانلی برای خنداندن جمع پوکربازان، جوکی تعریف میکند که
: نمایانگر روحیه هوس طلبی این جمع است
پیرمرد دهاتی پشت خونش نشسته بود برای جوجه ها دون می پاشید.یکمرتبه صدای قد قد میاد و یک مرغ دون ورچین پیداش میشه،یه خروس هم گذاشته دنبالش
اما تا خروس چشمش به پیرمرده می افته و میبینه که دون می پاشه مرغه رو ول میکنه و شروع میکنه به دون ورچیدن.پیرمرده که اینو میبینه میگه
<< !خدای بزرگ،منو هیچوخ آنقدر گشنه نذار >>
استانلی سلطان هوس است و حتی شاید دلسوزی اش برای دوستش "میچ" برای ارضای هوس خود بوده تا رقیب را حذف کند و خود به بلانش دست یابد
او خروس است و یک خروس نه از مرغ تعریف می کند و نه با آن لاس میزند و فقط هوسش را در چند لحظه به هر راهی شده فرو می نشاند
او به بلانش می گوید: تعارف به زن ها درباره قیافه شون جزو مزخرفاته،من هیچ زنی رو ندیدم که قبل اینکه بهش بگن،خودش ندونه خوشگله یا نه.بعضی هاشون هم زیادی واسه خودشون ارزش قائلن
شخصیت سازش پذیر استلا در این غوغا نسبت به بلانش و استانلی زیاد به چشم نمی آید.وی دقیقا شبیه مرغی است که در برابر کتک ها و خیانت ها و مستی های خروس تسلیم می شود
و این تسلیم پذیری در جملات اول ریویو که می گوید همه این چیزها در شب و هم آغوشی با استانلی فراموش می شوند کاملا مشهود است
صد رحمت به ایونانس (زن همسایه) که با شنیدن خیانت های همسرش حداقل چند ظرفی
!!! می شکند اما باز باید این خیانت ها را فراموش کند
شاید تنها شخصیت میچ است که می توان دوستش داشت.مردی که از مادر پیر و مریضش مراقبت میکند اما هیچ خبری از پدر و مادر استانلی و دوستان دیگرش نیست.با اینکه میچ میل جنسی زیادی به بلانش دارد و فرصتش هم پیش می آید تجاوز نمی کند
استلا:اما بالاخره یک چیزهائی هست که در تاریکی بین زن و مرد اتفاق می افته ،بطوری که هرچیز دیگه رو بی اهمیت میکنه
بلانش:این که داری میگی هوس وحشی و پستی است.فقط هوس؛
اسم همون اتوبوس پر سروصدائی که مرتبا از این خیابون به اون خیابون میره
بعضی کتابها شاهکارند
چون با تمام کردن و بستن کتاب ،هنوز در ذهنت ورق میخورند
نه اینکه کتاب به سبک سیال ذهن و غیر خطی باشد بلکه در طول کتاب، افکارت دائما در حال تغییر بوده اند
بعد خواندن نمایشنامه، فیلمش را دیدم و دوباره ذهنم درگیر حلاجی شخصیت ها شد
...
شخصیت های اصلی داستان:بلانش - استلا(خواهر بلانش)-استانلی(شوهر استلا) و
(میچ (عاشق بلانش
تنسی ویلیامز ابتدا شخصیت های داستانش را در جَوی آرام نشان می دهد و بعد کم کم چاشنی خشونت و هوس را به آن می افزاید و تمام آنچه در مورد شخصیت ها گمان برده بودی همه کم رنگ می شوند و رنگی دیگر می گیرند
از بلانش بدت می اید و بعد طرفش رامی گیری و حتی از بیچارگی اش کم می ماند
...گریه ات بگیرد و باز
از استانلی هم همینطور
البته گریه برای استانلی را فراموش کنید
:)
بلانش و استانلی خواه ناخواه باید دشمن هم شوند یکی هنوز از اصالت خویش دم می زند و دیگری به هیچ قانونی که ریشه در گذشته داشته باشد پا��بند نیست حتی محرمات
این جامعه نابسامان وآشفته از لحاظ اخلاقی را در ناطور دشت و راننده تاکسی هم می بینیم
بلانش گذشته ای تلخ دارد و گاه و بیگاه برایش تداعی می شود و رنج می برد.گذشته های تلخ پر از مردان بد، پشت سرش تلنبار شده اند
استلا به استانلی میگوید: تو بلانش روموقع دختریش ندیدی.هیچکس، هیچکس به اندازه اون خوش قلب و خوش باور نبود اما آدمهائی مثه تو ازش سوءاستفاده کردن و مجبورش کردن عوض شه
بلانش با دیدن مردان نقش بازی می کند تا یکی از آن ها را بفریبد و برای خودش پناهگاهی بیابد.او از روشنایی بیزار است چون صورتش را نمی پوشاند و
!! سن واقعی اش را نشان می دهد .هرروز خدا دوش آب داغ می گیرد
میچ دیشب بجز یک ماچ چیزی گیرش نیومده.من فقط بهش ماچ دادم.میخام احترام منو نگه داره و مردها چیزی رو که آسان گیر بیاد دوس ندارن.از طرف دیگه زود سرد میشن،بخصوص اگه سن دختره بیشتر از سی سال باشه.اونا خیال میکنن دختری که سنش از سی سال تجاوز کرد باید درشو بذاره و من نمیخام اینطور
! شه.البته میچ نمیدونه-من سن حقیقی خودمو بهش نگفتم
شاید در جامعه ای که ظاهر این همه اهمیت را دارد نقش بازی کردن را اجباری نامید و بتوان تبرئه اش کرد،ولی تمسخر کردن میچ، با گفتن جمله زیر به فرانسوی، چیز دیگری می گوید
من مادام کاملیا هستم و تو آرماند
!می خواهی امشب با من بخوابی؟ نمی فهمی چی میگم ؟ آه، بسی افسوس
مادام کاملیا اثر الکساندر دوما(پسر)،داستان زنی بدکاره بود که با عشق خالصانه آرماند، دگرگون میشود.بلانش به زبان فرانسوی -که میچ ان را نمی فهمد-خود را مادام کاملیا می نامند اما در طول داستان با زبان انگلیسی خود را زنی پاک وتنها و شکست خورده عشق نشان میدهد تا میچ را عاشق خود کند
یکی از دوستانش استانلی برای خنداندن جمع پوکربازان، جوکی تعریف میکند که
: نمایانگر روحیه هوس طلبی این جمع است
پیرمرد دهاتی پشت خونش نشسته بود برای جوجه ها دون می پاشید.یکمرتبه صدای قد قد میاد و یک مرغ دون ورچین پیداش میشه،یه خروس هم گذاشته دنبالش
اما تا خروس چشمش به پیرمرده می افته و میبینه که دون می پاشه مرغه رو ول میکنه و شروع میکنه به دون ورچیدن.پیرمرده که اینو میبینه میگه
<< !خدای بزرگ،منو هیچوخ آنقدر گشنه نذار >>
استانلی سلطان هوس است و حتی شاید دلسوزی اش برای دوستش "میچ" برای ارضای هوس خود بوده تا رقیب را حذف کند و خود به بلانش دست یابد
او خروس است و یک خروس نه از مرغ تعریف می کند و نه با آن لاس میزند و فقط هوسش را در چند لحظه به هر راهی شده فرو می نشاند
او به بلانش می گوید: تعارف به زن ها درباره قیافه شون جزو مزخرفاته،من هیچ زنی رو ندیدم که قبل اینکه بهش بگن،خودش ندونه خوشگله یا نه.بعضی هاشون هم زیادی واسه خودشون ارزش قائلن
شخصیت سازش پذیر استلا در این غوغا نسبت به بلانش و استانلی زیاد به چشم نمی آید.وی دقیقا شبیه مرغی است که در برابر کتک ها و خیانت ها و مستی های خروس تسلیم می شود
و این تسلیم پذیری در جملات اول ریویو که می گوید همه این چیزها در شب و هم آغوشی با استانلی فراموش می شوند کاملا مشهود است
صد رحمت به ایونانس (زن همسایه) که با شنیدن خیانت های همسرش حداقل چند ظرفی
!!! می شکند اما باز باید این خیانت ها را فراموش کند
شاید تنها شخصیت میچ است که می توان دوستش داشت.مردی که از مادر پیر و مریضش مراقبت میکند اما هیچ خبری از پدر و مادر استانلی و دوستان دیگرش نیست.با اینکه میچ میل جنسی زیادی به بلانش دارد و فرصتش هم پیش می آید تجاوز نمی کند
September 18, 2022
“What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains.”
This is a despairing and lovely play that tells us that beauty is shipwrecked on the rock of the world's vulgarity. But this beauty is hidden in the play. We do not see it at first sight. What we do see is the suffering, doomed struggles of a lying, posing, half-demented, pathetic, fully drawn woman.
Desire is the central theme of the play. Blanche seeks to deny it, although we learn later in the play that desire is one of her driving motivations; her desires have caused her to be driven out of town. Physical desire, and not intellectual or spiritual intimacy, is the heart of Stella's and Stanley's relationship, but Williams makes it clear that this does not make their bond any weaker.
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
P.S: Special mention to the movie because after reading this play i realized that the acting was spot-on and the characters were played perfectly.
February 10, 2023
A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most critically acclaimed plays of the twentieth century and the most popular work of Tennessee Williams.
This is a terrific drama around mental health and abusive relationships.
I recently attended a performance by The National Ballet of Canada of an adaptation of this play, and I was mesmerized but at the same time disturbed by its graphic and violent sexual content. I have watched the movie adaptation several times and I don’t recall those scenes or some parts of the storyline, so I decided to read this play for the first time.
I really enjoyed it, especially the dialogues. But as I read, I played the movie in my head, so my opinion could be considered biased, as the movie is one of my favourites.
This play is quite remarkable.
The ending in the movie is slightly different from the play.
PS. Original review posted on March 21, 2022 and edited on February 10, 2023.
This is a terrific drama around mental health and abusive relationships.
I recently attended a performance by The National Ballet of Canada of an adaptation of this play, and I was mesmerized but at the same time disturbed by its graphic and violent sexual content. I have watched the movie adaptation several times and I don’t recall those scenes or some parts of the storyline, so I decided to read this play for the first time.
I really enjoyed it, especially the dialogues. But as I read, I played the movie in my head, so my opinion could be considered biased, as the movie is one of my favourites.
This play is quite remarkable.
The ending in the movie is slightly different from the play.
PS. Original review posted on March 21, 2022 and edited on February 10, 2023.
December 5, 2022
A mentally ill woman in the 1940s did not stand a chance.
My heartfelt sympathies to Blanche DuBois. Imagine marrying a closeted gay man, catching him in the act- that's how you find out by the way- and when confronted about it, he immediately proceeds to blow his brains out, literally. Also, you've lost your home and have no place to live. Broken and alone you turn to your sister (the only living member of your family) for help, but, alas, she's married to Stanley Kowalski, one of the most contemptible men in literature. Your doom ensues.
Stating the obvious here but Tennessee Williams is a marvelous playwright. FIVE stars for Streetcar, a bloody brilliant play!
My heartfelt sympathies to Blanche DuBois. Imagine marrying a closeted gay man, catching him in the act- that's how you find out by the way- and when confronted about it, he immediately proceeds to blow his brains out, literally. Also, you've lost your home and have no place to live. Broken and alone you turn to your sister (the only living member of your family) for help, but, alas, she's married to Stanley Kowalski, one of the most contemptible men in literature. Your doom ensues.
Stating the obvious here but Tennessee Williams is a marvelous playwright. FIVE stars for Streetcar, a bloody brilliant play!
March 18, 2018
A mental breakdown is a gradual process; it is something that happens slowly over a substantial period of time. With this play it was like a smack in the mouth; it came suddenly and without any form of real warning. And I find that a little odd.
Sure, something can trigger us off though we don’t necessarily go from perfectly calm and collective to meltdown mode in an instant. Blanche is clearly delusional. She has convinced herself of a life that doesn’t really exist. This is her body armour, a shell she uses to protect herself from what is actually happening in her life. She pretends to be a member of a higher class in which her life is perfectly fine, but it’s not really.
Nobody else is aware of this. Her persona convinces most and keeps the rest away. In this she’s not remotely insane or unhinged; she’s just damaged and on her guard. Life has got her down. So at the end of the play, when she supposedly gets raped, she loses it.
The sexual chemistry was there from the very first scene in which she met Stanley. She was drawn to his animalism and domineering masculinity; she clearly desired him even if she would never directly admit it to herself or others. So when he eventually makes a move on her, she doesn’t put up any convincing resistance; she lets it happen: she almost wants it to happen. And I find it difficult to conclude that it is rape. It happens off stage and we only know of the aftermath. The crime is implied, though it isn’t directly explicit.
“We've had this date with each other from the beginning.”
I may be arguing against the tide, though if you consider the history of Blanche the rape can be fairly doubted. She has a way of weeding her way out of situations. She’s escaped her first marriage because her husband killed himself. This, again, seems doubtful. Blanche relays her tale, but from her side of things (the only one that is available.) Apparently, her husband killed himself off the basis of one conversation which confronted his homosexuality. This doesn’t seem real. She walked in on him having sex with another man. Nothing happens. Time goes by. She brings the subject up later on, and then BAMM! he kills himself. I find the whole situation doubtful. We only have Blanche’s take on things, and I do think it’s far from the truth. I think the rape can be seen as her escape route out of another situation. I think she lets it happen just so she can have an exit point.
Indeed, the perfectly poised and delusional Blanche couldn’t simply walk out of the door; she couldn’t simply accept that her sister doesn’t like her and that she’s a complete manipulator of people and their emotions. No. That’s not Blanche. She has to go out with a bang, so to speak. I think the whole insanity thing was an act or to the point that she has deluded herself into thinking that it’s real. I am, again, arguing against the tide. I can’t find any sources that agree with me. But, I am almost convinced of it. I just can’t accept that she could have been driven to complete madness just like that. Not that I’m undermining the terribleness of rape, but in this situation I don’t think it’s a valid trigger to insanity.
It’s an interesting play, and it made me think, though I’m not certain that the ending everybody thinks happened did happen.
Sure, something can trigger us off though we don’t necessarily go from perfectly calm and collective to meltdown mode in an instant. Blanche is clearly delusional. She has convinced herself of a life that doesn’t really exist. This is her body armour, a shell she uses to protect herself from what is actually happening in her life. She pretends to be a member of a higher class in which her life is perfectly fine, but it’s not really.
Nobody else is aware of this. Her persona convinces most and keeps the rest away. In this she’s not remotely insane or unhinged; she’s just damaged and on her guard. Life has got her down. So at the end of the play, when she supposedly gets raped, she loses it.
The sexual chemistry was there from the very first scene in which she met Stanley. She was drawn to his animalism and domineering masculinity; she clearly desired him even if she would never directly admit it to herself or others. So when he eventually makes a move on her, she doesn’t put up any convincing resistance; she lets it happen: she almost wants it to happen. And I find it difficult to conclude that it is rape. It happens off stage and we only know of the aftermath. The crime is implied, though it isn’t directly explicit.
“We've had this date with each other from the beginning.”
I may be arguing against the tide, though if you consider the history of Blanche the rape can be fairly doubted. She has a way of weeding her way out of situations. She’s escaped her first marriage because her husband killed himself. This, again, seems doubtful. Blanche relays her tale, but from her side of things (the only one that is available.) Apparently, her husband killed himself off the basis of one conversation which confronted his homosexuality. This doesn’t seem real. She walked in on him having sex with another man. Nothing happens. Time goes by. She brings the subject up later on, and then BAMM! he kills himself. I find the whole situation doubtful. We only have Blanche’s take on things, and I do think it’s far from the truth. I think the rape can be seen as her escape route out of another situation. I think she lets it happen just so she can have an exit point.
Indeed, the perfectly poised and delusional Blanche couldn’t simply walk out of the door; she couldn’t simply accept that her sister doesn’t like her and that she’s a complete manipulator of people and their emotions. No. That’s not Blanche. She has to go out with a bang, so to speak. I think the whole insanity thing was an act or to the point that she has deluded herself into thinking that it’s real. I am, again, arguing against the tide. I can’t find any sources that agree with me. But, I am almost convinced of it. I just can’t accept that she could have been driven to complete madness just like that. Not that I’m undermining the terribleness of rape, but in this situation I don’t think it’s a valid trigger to insanity.
It’s an interesting play, and it made me think, though I’m not certain that the ending everybody thinks happened did happen.
February 18, 2021
Tennessee Williams writes some brilliant dialogue and distributes it perfectly across an explosive cast of characters. All of it makes for some crazy intense scenes.
So while it's natural to imagine this would be an awesome play (which I can't wait to see some day), the experience of reading it isn't, or at least for me it wasn't. Seems like this was clearly written to be performed not read, like most plays are...
So while it's natural to imagine this would be an awesome play (which I can't wait to see some day), the experience of reading it isn't, or at least for me it wasn't. Seems like this was clearly written to be performed not read, like most plays are...
December 29, 2020
I'll tell you what I want. Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try and give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!
What a wonderfully claustrophobic and poisonous play! I've somehow never seen or read any Tennessee Williams before this, something to be corrected. This is a brutal indictment of post-war American culture which deals with domestic violence, rape (?) and emotional abuse, as well as the illusions and delusions that enable the latter - which also, ironically, may sustain women in the face of a cruel world. Faded Blanche is the catalyst and most obvious victim but Stella left me anxious, too.
Full of anger, desire, tension, smouldering but risky sexuality, subtle critiques of class, race and gender stereotypes - and set against a vibrant New Orleans background, which also becomes the source of Blanche's hallucinations, this makes fantastic use of a closed set which foregrounds how dangerous domestic proximity may be.
March 8, 2021
I really can’t understand how I’ve just listened to and read this iconic play for the first time. I’ve never seen a production on the stage or any of the film versions either. I will have to remedy that now.
Tennessee Williams created such a bleak, raw, visceral cast of characters in A Streetcar Named Desire in which he probes their innermost desires and truths. His striking and evocative dialogues skillfully depict the complex themes portrayed throughout. The atmosphere brilliantly takes you back to the humidity and music of 1940’s New Orleans.
These characters have become some of the most recognized and famous of all time. Stanley Kowalski is a brutally harsh, crude, working-class man who has no ability for sympathy. Then there is Blanche DuBois. A broken and tortured southern belle, Blanche comes to New Orleans to get away from her life that is crumbling. Her pregnant sister Stella, Stanley’s wife, tries to make Blanche feel comfortable in her small, shabby apartment, so unlike the DuBois plantation in Mississippi. There is immediate dislike between Stanley and Blanche and Stella is caught in the middle. Williams is so adept at creating the tension among the characters in order to reveal the meanings, open and hidden, in a way that builds and builds from the beginning to the end. We are witnesses to the desires and hidden truths behind their actions and we feel their pain immensely. Sexuality and passion actually reflect the way these characters view the world around them. The women’s ideas about dependence on men govern their lives and cause great suffering and psychological instability.
What an intricately woven story that has stood the test of time and still is relevant to our modern world. I think we will continue to talk about these flawed people for years and years to come.
Tennessee Williams created such a bleak, raw, visceral cast of characters in A Streetcar Named Desire in which he probes their innermost desires and truths. His striking and evocative dialogues skillfully depict the complex themes portrayed throughout. The atmosphere brilliantly takes you back to the humidity and music of 1940’s New Orleans.
These characters have become some of the most recognized and famous of all time. Stanley Kowalski is a brutally harsh, crude, working-class man who has no ability for sympathy. Then there is Blanche DuBois. A broken and tortured southern belle, Blanche comes to New Orleans to get away from her life that is crumbling. Her pregnant sister Stella, Stanley’s wife, tries to make Blanche feel comfortable in her small, shabby apartment, so unlike the DuBois plantation in Mississippi. There is immediate dislike between Stanley and Blanche and Stella is caught in the middle. Williams is so adept at creating the tension among the characters in order to reveal the meanings, open and hidden, in a way that builds and builds from the beginning to the end. We are witnesses to the desires and hidden truths behind their actions and we feel their pain immensely. Sexuality and passion actually reflect the way these characters view the world around them. The women’s ideas about dependence on men govern their lives and cause great suffering and psychological instability.
What an intricately woven story that has stood the test of time and still is relevant to our modern world. I think we will continue to talk about these flawed people for years and years to come.
April 7, 2024
For the last few years I’ve reviewed everything I read. Sometimes that’s a real pain in the ass. This is one of those times. A Streetcar Named Desire is perhaps the most famous play of one of America’s most distinguished playwrights. Its movie adaptation is a true classic. It’s a play with hot passion, big emotions, and bigger characters. And honestly, I don’t like it. It left me cold. Didn’t touch me. Kinda pissed me off.
Why? I couldn’t abide Stanley. He’s a brute and a bully, and he dominates this play like he dominates his wife Stella. The way everything plays out, with Stella lying to herself while her sister Blanche is destroyed and abandoned just ripped me, and not in a good way. The play felt exploitive, mean, and cruel. When contemplating poor Blanche and her fate, all I could think of was a sad line from Richard Brautigan’s short story The Betrayed Kingdom:
”This might have been a funny story if it weren’t for the fact that people need a little loving, and God, sometimes it’s sad all the shit they have to go through to find some.”
Why? I couldn’t abide Stanley. He’s a brute and a bully, and he dominates this play like he dominates his wife Stella. The way everything plays out, with Stella lying to herself while her sister Blanche is destroyed and abandoned just ripped me, and not in a good way. The play felt exploitive, mean, and cruel. When contemplating poor Blanche and her fate, all I could think of was a sad line from Richard Brautigan’s short story The Betrayed Kingdom:
”This might have been a funny story if it weren’t for the fact that people need a little loving, and God, sometimes it’s sad all the shit they have to go through to find some.”
June 9, 2013
Such a powerful drama! Williams presents his word-portraits so amazingly. As I noted when I read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he also is a master of stage direction. When reading this play, it's possible to "see" the surroundings, hear the music and voices on the street.
Stanley, Stella and Blanche come alive on the pages as Blanche drops in at her sister's home creating a simmering stew of growing emotion. The heat of a Southern summer is reflected by all that happens in the two bedroom apartment as stories are told and feelings unleashed.
Now I must watch the film...just placed on hold at the library.
Very highly recommended.
Stanley, Stella and Blanche come alive on the pages as Blanche drops in at her sister's home creating a simmering stew of growing emotion. The heat of a Southern summer is reflected by all that happens in the two bedroom apartment as stories are told and feelings unleashed.
Now I must watch the film...just placed on hold at the library.
Very highly recommended.
June 6, 2022
اصلا حواسم نبود اینو تموم کردم
چقدر عالی بود
عاشقش شدم رسما
ترجمه رو هم خیلی خیلی دوست داشتم، حال و هوای فیلم فارسی رو داشت
یادم باشه اینم با سعید همخوانی کردیم، چقدر چیز بلده این بشر اه
چقدر عالی بود
عاشقش شدم رسما
ترجمه رو هم خیلی خیلی دوست داشتم، حال و هوای فیلم فارسی رو داشت
یادم باشه اینم با سعید همخوانی کردیم، چقدر چیز بلده این بشر اه
April 10, 2023
➥ 3 Stars *:･ﾟ✧
I've grown to appreciate this one more for its comedic value and its comedic value only. Well actually not really, I also actually appreciated the exploration of Blanche's character. I mean just look at this shit.
I love her your honour. I can't help it when she insults men with such grace.
She's been judging these men by their zodiac signs!!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN "brightly" LMAO.
This girl was putting in the work, trying to stress out these men to the max.
I'm sorry but she's so real.
BYE.
BLANCHE: I feel so hot and frazzled. Wait till I powder before you open the door. Do I look done in?
STELLA: Why no. You are as fresh as a daisy.
BLANCHE: One that's been picked a few days.
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
I've grown to appreciate this one more for its comedic value and its comedic value only. Well actually not really, I also actually appreciated the exploration of Blanche's character. I mean just look at this shit.
STELLA: No. Stanley's the only one of his crowd that's likely to get anywhere.
BLANCHE: What makes you think Stanley will?
STELLA: Look at him.
BLANCHE: I've looked at him.
STELLA: Then you should know.
BLANCHE: I'm sorry, but I haven't noticed the stamp of genius even on Stanley's forehead.
I love her your honour. I can't help it when she insults men with such grace.
BLANCHE: What sign were you born under?
STANLEY [while he is dressing]: Sign?
BLANCHE: Astrological sign. I bet you were born under Aries. Aries people are forceful and dynamic. They dote on noise! They love to bang things around!
She's been judging these men by their zodiac signs!!
There is a crash; then a relative hush.
BLANCHE [brightly]: Did he kill her?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN "brightly" LMAO.
BLANCHE: We are going to be very Bohemian. We are going to pretend that we are sitting in a little artists' cafe on the Left Bank in Paris! [She lights a candle stub and puts it in a bottle.] Je suis la Dame aux Camellias! Vous etes Armand! Understand French?
MITCH [heavily]: Naw. Naw, I-
This girl was putting in the work, trying to stress out these men to the max.
STANLEY: I have a lawyer acquaintance who will study these out.
BLANCHE: Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets.
I'm sorry but she's so real.
STELLA: Blanche, you saw him at his worst last night.
BLANCHE: On the contrary, I saw him at his best! What such a man has to offer is animal force and he gave a wonderful exhibition of that! But the only way to live with such a man is to-go to bed with him. And that's your job-not mine!
BYE.
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
January 13, 2016
PopSugar Challenge 2015 SPILLOVER (because I am a challenge failure, oops.)
Category: A Play
4 Stars
What a deliciously depressive way to commence my 2016 reading year! After hearing and reading about A Streetcar Named Desire (*glares at Losing It*, seriously authors please stop putting massive spoilers for classic works in your books. PLEASE?! I didn’t get spoiled mind because I already knew, but still!)for many a year I have finally sat down and read it. And what I have to say is this: what the fuck took me so long?
This play is a relatively quick read, it took me one lazy January afternoon, but it is packed with a punch that lingers much longer than the story takes to tell.
All of the characters within this play are interesting in their own regard, but for the sake of this review I will focus on Blanche. For all intents and purposes Blanche is a lady; well dressed, submissive, diminutive, from a prominent family. However, as the story goes forward there are little moments of reality which slip into that gloss messing up the proper image Blanche portrays. The character transition of Blanche is both fascinating and depressing.
This is a harsh little play, and it begs the question: is it better to live in a dark and dreary reality, full of monsters in human flesh or in an imaged perfect world of your own making?
“I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.”
Category: A Play
4 Stars
What a deliciously depressive way to commence my 2016 reading year! After hearing and reading about A Streetcar Named Desire (*glares at Losing It*, seriously authors please stop putting massive spoilers for classic works in your books. PLEASE?! I didn’t get spoiled mind because I already knew, but still!)for many a year I have finally sat down and read it. And what I have to say is this: what the fuck took me so long?
This play is a relatively quick read, it took me one lazy January afternoon, but it is packed with a punch that lingers much longer than the story takes to tell.
All of the characters within this play are interesting in their own regard, but for the sake of this review I will focus on Blanche. For all intents and purposes Blanche is a lady; well dressed, submissive, diminutive, from a prominent family. However, as the story goes forward there are little moments of reality which slip into that gloss messing up the proper image Blanche portrays. The character transition of Blanche is both fascinating and depressing.
This is a harsh little play, and it begs the question: is it better to live in a dark and dreary reality, full of monsters in human flesh or in an imaged perfect world of your own making?
“I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.”
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