Form ASND

Use of scenes not acts

- Williams uses 11 scenes not acts and does not indicate any break for interval
- speculations about his reasoning suggest he may have chosen the short unconventional structure bc he felt his talent was for writing short one act plays and he could not sustain dramatic tension in the typical 3 act length
- Williams' tension is also enhanced by his lack of interval

Language and Dialogue

- key to the characterisation
- language is used to clearly depict the differences between the social classes
- even in the stage directions Williams' uses rich imagery to detail the characterisation
- Williams' uses a mixed approach of expressionism in the portrayal of reality
- expressionism can be understood as the representation of reality in an abstract form

Stage directions

- Williams uses stage directions to give very speicifc instructions on sounds, symbols, sets and props
- he recurrently uses stage directions to est Elysian fields as multicultural and vibrant
- this allows the movements between the Kowalski apartment and the street outside to be seamless
- implying how the life of the street is seeping into the apartment
- eg the mexican flower vendor is a symbol of death from the street that adds to Blanche's mental breakdown

private vs public

- the boundaries between private and public are distorted in the play which adds to the larger theme of societies control on individuality

Shakespeare and other playwrights

- Shakespeare uses brief stage direction with a striking lack of detail
- this is bc he was probably around to have some input into the staging of his own play
- other playwrights used brief stage directions where they would tell actors how to behave, who they're directing their speech to and the tone of voice to adopt
- 20th c playwrights like Williams use precise and rich stage directions
- Williams stage directions are often lyrical and thought provoking offering additional levels of enjoyment to the reader than an audience wouldn't have

Greek tragedy

- aristotle 330 bc
- argued the best tragedy was not simple but complex
- there should be the downfall of a great man (tragic hero"
- this should be the result of a reversal of fortune (peripeteia)
- the reversal of fortune should be the result of the tragic heroes' own actions (hamartia)

Melodrama and soap opera

- melodramas contain sensational incidents, stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions and simplistic sentiments
- soap operas are more intimate, domestic and family orientated they are theatrically realistic
- Williams play correlates with his use of family, sexual politics, greed and betrayal

Social realist drama

- the success of the play may have been partly due to the new taste for realism that emerged post war
- Stanley and Mitch were fellow soldiers
- Blanche slept around with the young men from the army base near her home in Laurel
- the depiction of the rich cultural and racial background of life in working-class New Orleans adds to the play being social realist drama

Morality play

- were didactic texts designed to convey a moral lesson
- the characters were archetypes of vices such as greed/mercy
- the plays were presented in a schematic manner with the central theme being mankind's struggle against sin
- very Christian form of theatre
- Williams avoids spelling out too schematic of a moral message, leaving the moral judgements to the audience
- but all 7 deadly sins are represented
- and some punishment is given out for those sins, tho not all

Memory play

- Williams saw all of his major works as memory plays that centre around a character undergoing an intense psychological crisis
- this triggers a time-loop of the trauma which must be relived until the character comes to terms with it
- these plays are non-linear and consciously artificial with stylised dramatic techniques being used to suggest a psychological or spiritual truth about the inner life of the main protagonist
- seeks to convey truth as opposed to naturalistic plays
- blanche hears the polka music bringing her in and out of the memories of her past
- this adds to the audiences understanding of her even tho it is artificial
- unlike the other characters on stage the audience can hear the music
- blanches memory of Allan's suicide is embedded to minimise our chances of achieving an objective critical stance and encourages us to empathise with her