Blog #3, Option #4

           Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, tells the story of Blanche, a proper, upper class woman, who goes to stay with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley. Upon her arrival she encounters trouble when her sister’s relationship and way of living contradicts her standards as a Southern Belle. Though often read via the script and later adapted for film, this work was originally designed for a play. A play can be defined as, “a story that is intended to be acted out before people who have come to see it” (Cambridge Dictionary). In other words, the purpose and often the benefits a play has as opposed to reading a text, is that it allows playwrights, actors, and actresses to bring characters to life in order to express an idea. This idea is then left for the audience to interpret. Therefore, A Streetcar Named Desire works best as a play because it engages the audience using multiple forms of communication and stimulating various senses, both of which allow for a more personal experience than a text.

            Where a text limits the audience to communicating with the characters only through verbal means, or written words, a play incorporates this and also nonverbal cues such as body language. As Blanche mentions staying back to save Belle Reve, Stella defends her decision to leave arguing that she needed to make her own living, to which the stage direction instructs, “Blanche begins to shake again with intensity.” Physically seeing Blanche shake, rather than being told, creates more distinct feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and possibly even anger. In another example, when Blanche first meets Stanley, she “involuntarily [draws] back from his stare.” Seeing her step back as Stanley enters, implies her hesitation, but also leaves room for various interpretations, such as fear. Though a text could portray these same reactions, viewing the body language allows the audience to experience what the characters are going through on a more personal level. Reading about an experience does not evoke the feeling of being able to relate as well as seeing it occur right before oneself.

            While reading a text only engages one’s sight, watching a play engages both visual and audial senses. Reading a text primarily uses sight, for one reads the words on the page and visualizes in their minds the characters and scenes. However, a play engages both sight and sound. In Williams’ play, one’s sight is stimulated because the actors’ appearances and settings are all laid out before the audience. On page 2188, Williams describes Blanche as “…daintily dressed in a white suit with fluffy bodice, white necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail…” Though the text provides a detailed description of her appearance, the play would more strongly engage the viewer’s sight by presenting them with the actual wardrobe and allowing that viewer to interpret for themselves what the attire says about that character.

In addition, a play also stimulates the viewers’ ears. For instance, on page 2193, Blanche hesitantly brings up how she tried to keep Belle Reve intact, but failed. Amongst this situation, the stage direction reads, “The music of the ‘Blue Piano’ grows louder.” Similarly, on page 2208, Stella and Stanley get into a fight at poker night, when Stanley hits Stella. Stanley soon realizes his mistake, but only after Stella has already stormed off leaving him in his misery. As he calls out to her, “The ‘Blue Piano’ plays for a brief interval.” Throughout the play, the Blue Piano seems to play or increase volume during sad or disheartening scenes, and specifically in both these scenes, occurs at a time of loss – loss of Belle Reve, and loss of Stella. As a result, utilizing music to contribute to setting the mood creates a new dimension to engage the audience.

Experiencing this story as a play, pulls the audience in on a deeper level than reading a text would because it uses various ways to communicate meaning to the viewers through verbal and nonverbal cues, as well as stimulates multiple senses such as sight and hearing. In doing this, the play fulfills its purpose to present character representations and express points of view, but allows the viewers to create their own meanings and interpretations. More specifically, it allows Williams to show how Blanche, Stella, and Stanley’s personalities contribute to their clashing interactions and reactions with each other. From there, the audience is left with a more intimate experience for viewing the performance, and in finding personal meaning from it.