Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams and performed by La Boite Theatre Company, easily engages the audience in their successful attempt to relate to a contemporary audience. The audience followed Blanche DuBois as she tried to stay peacefully with her sister and her husband, Stanley. During her stay, she discovers secrets of domestic violence and pregnancy, and has her own secrets brought up by Stanley, resulting in a bitter end of rape and admittance into a mental institution. To achieve immersion of a contemporary audience, Todd MacDonald used the characterization of Stella, a violent mood, and a creative set design.
The characterization of Stella clearly reflects the ideology and morals of that of a contemporary audience. Stella constantly stands up for herself, giving off an air of dominance over Stanley that women generally weren’t allowed to have when the play was written in 1947. Through the control …show more content…
Throughout the play, Blanche and Stanley consistently change outfits, frequently around one another. Stanley easily changes shirts around both Blanche and Stella, and his dress is often casual, or even sloppy. While Blanche is the opposite, always very prim and proper in her dress, she had no issues being around Stanley in just a dressing gown or her pajamas. There was even a time when she went to him with the back of her dress completely unzipped and unbuttoned, asking him to do it up for her. This behavior was infrequent and inappropriate during the time the play is set, and the casual air around the actions makes it even more so. Clearly, this casualness at being in a state of undress around the opposite gender, despite the whether the clothing was casual or proper, is an ideology of the 21st century which has been employed in the play to make it more relatable and engaging to a contemporary