Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire

Plays in Production

by Philip C. Kolin

One of the most important plays of the twentieth century, A Streetcar Named Desire revolutionised the modern stage. This book offers the first continuous history of the play in production from 1947 to 1998 with an emphasis on the collaborative achievement of Tennessee Williams, Elia Kazan, and Jo Mielziner in the Broadway premiere. From there chapters survey major national premieres by the world's leading directors including those by Seki Sano (Mexico), Luchino Visconti (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), Jean Cocteau (France ) and Laurence Olivier (England). Philip Kolin also evaluates key English-language revivals and assesses how the script evolved and adapted to cultural changes. Interpretations by Black and gay theatre companies also receive analyses and transformations into other media, such as ballet, film, television, and opera (premiered in 1998) form an important part of the overall study.

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tennessee Williams chose themes in "A Streetcar Named Desire" which were quite controversial in his time (1911-1983). Homosexuality and mental illness play important roles in this play, and they are not hidden, albeit they are carefully mentioned.
The story was controversial in that time and even until today there are some stigmas and taboos about. This play doesn't really help in understanding them; it seems to me to be more like some kind of morbid entertaining value.
I also didn't really like the characters much. Blanche was so annoying and obnoxiously self-centered and haughty. Stanley was kind of cool, but then he became so violent. Mitch and Stella were nicer, but their characters were much more flat.
Reading pace and writing style were pleasant.

[I.B. FREEMAN · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible pathetic, this book was boring, i couldnt get into at all it was boring. The main male character acts like who is on her menstrual everyday. He picks a fight with a woman all the time for no reason. The book just made no sense, another overrated classic

[Márs Márs]

Streetcar really pushed the envelope of what was acceptable sexually in the 1940s, and Brando took the role of aggressive, macho Stanley Kowalski to the very edge (critic Arthur Miller aptly called him “a sexual terrorist, a tiger on the loose”).