Realism and Theatricalism in A Streetcar Named Desire

Realism and Theatricalism in A Streetcar Named Desire MARY ANN CORRIGAN • ON THE MORNING after the premiere ofA Streetcar Named Desire in 1947, Joseph Wood Krutch commented: "This may be the great American play." From the perspective of more than a quarter of a century later A Streetcar Named Desire appears to be one of the great American plays. Its greatness lies in Tennessee Williams' matching of form to content. In order to gain sympathy for a character who is in the process of an emotional breakdown, Williams depicts the character from without and within ; both the objectivity and the subjectivity of Blanche are present to the audience. In A Streetcar Named Desire Williams synthesizes depth characterization , typical of drama that strives to be an illusion of reality, with symbolic theatrics, which imply an acceptance of the stage as artifice. In short, realism and theatricalism, often viewed as stage rivals, complement each other in this play. Throughout the 1940s Williams attempted to combine elements of theatricalist staging with verisimilitudinous plots and characters. His experiments either failed utterly, as in Battle of Angels in which neither literal nor symbolic action is convincing, or succeeded with modifications, for instance by the removal of the screen device in The Glass Menagerie. In A Streetcar Named Desire Williams is in control of his symbolic devices. They enable the audience not only to understand the emotional penumbra surrounding the events and characters , but also to view the world from the limited and distorted perspective of Blanche. The play's meaning is apparent only after Williams exposes through stage resources what transpires in the mind of Blanche. When the audience meets Blanche, she is at the same stage as Laura 385 386 MARY ANN CORRIGAN of The Glass Menagerie: one more of life's frustrating disappointments is enough to insure final retreat from the world. Blanche does not retreat without a struggle; the progress of her struggle determines the forward movement of the play's action. To communicate Blanche's subjective state at each stage of the action, Williams asks in his stage directions for aural and visual effects, some of which distort the surface verisimilitude of the play. Elia Kazan was careful to preserve these elements of stylization when he directed the original Broadway production. He explains: "One reason a 'style,' a stylized production is necessary is that a subjective factor - Blanche's memories, inner life, emotions, are a real factor. We cannot really understand her behavior unless we see the effect of her past on her present behavior."1 The setting, lighting, props, costumes, sound effects and music, along with the play's dominant symbols, the bath and the light bulb, provide direct access to the private lives of the characters. Williams' setting is emotionally charged and, as usual, described in great detail in the stage directions. Both the inside and the outside of the Kowalski house appear on stage. The house is in a slum in the old section of New Orleans. The backdrop designed by Jo Mielziner for the original production featured angled telephone poles, lurid neon lights and ornately decorated facades on crumbling structures. Despite its dilapidation , Williams insists that the section "has a raffish charm," especially in the blue light of the sky "which invests the scene with a kind oflyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay." Stanley is at home in this neighborhood and Stella has learned to like it, but its charm eludes Blanche, who says of it: "Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe! - could do it justice!" Blanche finds the Kowalski environment cramped, foul and ugly, so unlike her childhood home, Belle Reve, "a great big place with white columns." In coming to New Orleans, Blanche is brought face to face with an ugly reality which contrasts with her "beautiful dream." To show the relation between the decadent New Orleans street life and the events inside the Kowalski flat Williams asks that the back wall of the apartment be made of gauze to permit, under proper lighting, a view of the city alley. This wall becomes transparent in the rape scene. Williams uses costuming, props, and lighting to convey the emotional strength of his characters...