Premiering in 1947, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a play set in the late 1940s about the downfall of Blanche DuBois and the relationship between Stanley Kowalski and his wife Stella. Blanche and Stella come from an upper-class background in Mississippi, where Blanche lived and worked as a schoolteacher prior to her trip to New Orleans for an extended stay with Stella, her sister. Throughout the play, Blanche’s recent history is revealed little by little: her familial manor, Belle Reve was lost to foreclosure whereupon Blanche moved to a motel and was later evicted from due to her numerous sexual associations. Losing her job as well after an affair with a student, Blanche had nowhere to turn but her sister. After moving to New Orleans to stay with her sister Blanche’s situations steadily deteriorates until she is committed to an insane asylum at the end of the play.
The relationship between Stanley and his wife Stella also figures prominently in the play. Stanley is of polish descent, fought in World War II and works as an auto mechanic. He is the epitome of the masculine, patriarchic character who dominates the household, beat his wife and rapes his sister-in-law. Stella, who comes from the same social station as Blanche, has left her previous life and been swept up in the animalistic, savage relationship with Stanley. The relationship’s back and forth nature is embodied in the scene, later made famous in the Marlon Brando rendition, where Stanley remorsefully yells “Stella!” to the upstairs apartment where Stella has fled after being beaten by Stanley. Stella returns to Stanley, to Blanche’s horror, and embraces him passionately.
In acting out this play, it was important to take into account the intentions of Williams. Acting is the ability to portray a character within a story to its truest form. Actors must interpret the text they are performing and adapting their own mannerisms and expressions to fit the character’s. Without proper acting the audience would be unable to grasp the meaning of the work, or worse, be unable to understand the story line.
In our rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire, I played the character Steve. Steve is a supporting character whose role is to highlight Stanley’s controlling nature. Steve appears in the play along with several other characters who play poker with Stanley. Aside from the interaction with Stella, it would be difficult to gauge the type of man Stanley is without these scenes. Putting Stanley in an environment with his companions gives the audience a more complete view of Stanley. And because he is one of the main characters, his development throughout the plot is vitally important.
Steve is extremely similar to Stanley in terms of manliness and brutishness. In the same way that Stanley beats Stella, Steve beats Eunice, his wife. Their companionship at the poker games serves to highlight the congruency of their characters, as well as juxtapose Mitch’s character. This was further backed up by the costumes and design of the set.
My costume was made to look like someone who would live in a lower-class neighborhood in late 1940s New Orleans. That is, it was focused on a dingy look that would reflect Steve’s social status and lack of money. Also taken into account was the character’s attitude toward clothing. Steve would not have been one to be picky when it comes to clothing. Unlike a fashionable ‘uptown man,’ Steve would have preferred comfort and utility to the latest fashions of the time.
The setting that Steve was present in most often in the play was Stanley and Stella’s kitchen, where they sat at a table and played poker. The bowl of fruit on the table offset the otherwise testosterone filled setting of the poker games and served to remind the audience of Stella’s presence in the apartment.
The director is one of the most important positions in putting on a play. The director makes sure that each aspect of the play fits his or her vision and enhances the audience’s understanding and experience. When putting on A Streetcar Named Desire one of the most important things for the director is staying true to the words of Tennessee Williams. The director is responsible for making sure that the set and the costumes reflect the proper time period and setting for the play. More importantly, however, the director is responsible for making sure that the actors are properly portraying the characters so that the play flows smoothly and cohesively. For this reason, the director’s attentiveness to the text that is being performed is perhaps even more important than the individual actor’s. While the actor is only responsible for his or her part, the director is responsible for the entire play.
By performing the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams I was able to learn the importance of each of the different positions in the production process. Each actor has an important role and the overall outcome of the play depends on each person filling their position to their best ability.