A Streetcar Named Desire

It's 2 in the morning and by anyone's standard, far too early (or late) for a book review. But I can't seem to sleep so you readers must endure another review up here. Boy, it sure feels strange when this blog is updated regularly, doesn't it? :D

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by one of the most famous American playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams. His other work, The Glass Menagerie, was one of the play options for my A-Level literature several years ago, but Mr Cranwell, my teacher, opted for another play called 'The Rivals'. To this day, I can't remember the reason for the life of me. Anyway, back to A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBois, a southern American belle used to a life of refined luxury, has just arrived in New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella, after her family home was lost to a bad mortgage. Blanche, who shows signs of mental instability, almost immediately got on the wrong side of Stella's 'common' and rough husband, Stanley Kowalski, and the play follows their conflicting personalities and the tragedy that it leads up to. 

 This play strikes me as an emotionally violent piece of work, with characters moulded to demand raw performances from the actors. Even before watching the famous 1951 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, the written play's strong language shocks me at times and lends the play an even more shocking tone overall, considering the nature of the two main characters. Blanche is suggested to be quick with verbal replies, something that she utilizes frequently in reasserting her superior upbringing, much to Stanley's chagrin. Stanley, a rough working class man that represents the new generation of New Orleans of 1940s, is forever annoyed by Blanche's efforts to disrupt the power dynamics of the Kowalski household. The climax of the play, which I will not reveal, can be seen as a metaphore of an accumulation of antagonism between two different lifestyles post WW2.

Leigh as Blanche and Brando as Stanley in the film adaptation (1951)

This play reminds me of Shakespeare's King Lear, in that my sympathies are evoked for different characters at different times all through the play. Despite the brutish manners of Stanley's, I cannot help but feel sorry for his desperate cries to keep Stella by his side after beating her up in a drunken stupor, something that the feminist in me can never tolerate. Toward the end of the play, I found myself rooting for Blanche instead, as I see her struggle to keep her sanity in a harsh world, surrounded by 'deliberate cruelty'. And then, of course, there are Stella and Mitch, the two side characters who are trapped in Stanley and Blanche's power play. In the end, I cannot really make up my mind as to whose side it is that I am meant to be on. Perhaps no one and everyone. 

I would recommend this to fellow theater freaks who are interested in the study of human characters. Casual readers might find this play a bit too theatrical in its writing, in which I case I would suggest watching the film instead, as it is very faithful to Williams' play, although the director chose to write a different ending. Besides, plays are meant to be watched, not read. And when you have a young Brando in the lead, you can't really say no to that, can you? ; )

8 stars out of 10.