Customer Reviews
Absolutely Brilliant - By: Mrs. Sandra Stimson, 08 Jan 2008 
Arguably Tennessee Williams' best loved & most popular play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is guaranteed to grip you from start to finish.
Setin 1950s New Orleans, the highly pretentious Miss Blanche Dubois visits her sister & brother-in-law, Stella & Stanley Kowalski. Blanche, "virtuous", sensitive & 'moth-like' is a cultured antithesis of Stanley with his overt sensuality & primal behaviour, providing the audience with a wonderful drama of emotions.
Williams cleverly unravels Blanche's shocking history through Stanley, whose determined investigations reveal her past mistakes from her inability to receive closure from her young husband's death. The delightful use of explicit & precise stage directions resultsin a fantastic array of tension-building music, dramatic irony & intricately inter-woven symbolism.
The eleven scenes span over a long period of time, condensing the play into major dramatic events which intensify the emotions of both the characters & the audience. This is futher affirmed by the small set - the tiny apartment bespeaks confinement, accentuating the emotional density & the power & menace of Stanley's physical presence.
As the loss of literature, language, music & culture (everything that Blanche epitomises) is replaced with desire & lust, Blanche slowly 'fades' into her illusions; unable to cope with a changing world & ultimately losing her grip on sanity altogether.
Peter Shaffer wrote of Williams: "He could not write a dull scene." I could not agree more; 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is rightfully one of the best pieces of modern American literature as it will undoubtably be remembered, discussed & enjoyed for years to come.
Emma Stimson, A-level student.
Beautiful and gripping tragedy set in heady New Orleans - By: , 11 Dec 2000 A Streetcar Named Desire is a tragic, poignant & beautiful play written by the famous American playwright Tennenessee Williams. The play is setin New Orleans & revolves around the central character Blanche Dubois who is an insecure,once rich, romantic, fading southern belle. She visits her sister Stella, who has married Stanley, a crude & sexually predatory immigrant, a total contrastin temproment & class, who immensly dislikes Blanche. As the play unfolds it is apparent that Blanche's past is not exatly what it seems & the play snowballs to a tragic climax. The vivid language & suggested music that is usedin this play is what makes the action so intense & the story so gripping. The central characters are all so different & well drawn, each having different weaknesses & strengths that make them bith both likable & dislikable. The readers sympathy, as intended I feel, must lie with Blanche as it becomes apparent that despite all her coquettish boasting she is a victim of society's expectations. Her desperation to find love again to forget a tragic past & her insecurities about growing old are are very human emotions & make her a heroine to be empathized with. I find this play extremely moving but also enjoy the pace & drama of the play. Williams creates an atmosphere & characters that are disturbingly real on the page. This I feel is Williams finest play & i would recommend it to anyone.
