A Streetcar Named Desire (New Directions Paperbook)

£3.58

Absolutely Brilliant - Arguably Tennessee Williams best loved and most popular play, A Streetcar Named Desire is guaranteed to grip you from start to finish.Set in 1950s New Orleans, the highly pretentious Miss Blanche Dubois visits her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Blanche, virtuous, sensitive and moth-like is a cultured antithesis of Stanley with his overt sensuality and 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 and precise stage directions results in a fantastic array of tension-building music, dramatic irony and 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 and the audience. This is futher affirmed by the small set - the tiny apartment bespeaks confinement, accentuating the emotional density and the power and menace of Stanley s physical presence.As the loss of literature, language, music and culture (everything that Blanche epitomises) is replaced with desire and lust, Blanche slowly fades into her illusions, unable to cope with a changing world and 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 and enjoyed for years to come.Emma Stimson, A-level student.

Beautiful and gripping tragedy set in heady New Orleans - A Streetcar Named Desire is a tragic, poignant and beautiful play written by the famous American playwright Tennenessee Williams. The play is set in New Orleans and 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 and sexually predatory immigrant, a total contrast in temproment and class, who immensly dislikes Blanche. As the play unfolds it is apparent that Blanche s past is not exatly what it seems and the play snowballs to a tragic climax. The vivid language and suggested music that is used in this play is what makes the action so intense and the story so gripping. The central characters are all so different and well drawn, each having different weaknesses and strengths that make them bith both likable and 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 and her insecurities about growing old are are very human emotions and make her a heroine to be empathized with. I find this play extremely moving but also enjoy the pace and drama of the play. Williams creates an atmosphere and characters that are disturbingly real on the page. This I feel is Williams finest play and i would recommend it to anyone.

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