A Streetcar Named Desire: Play Analysis

The play A Streetcar Named Desire is considered to be one of playwright, Tennessee Williams’ best work. However, this production is of high importance because it took place at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre which is on Broadway. This specific theater named after Ethel Barrymore, was built by the Shubert Organization and opened in 1928. It is special because it is the only theatre that the Shubert’s built that is still used today. It is interesting to note that producer, Irene Selznick, and director, Elia Kazan, ended up choosing a final cast that consisted of unknown performers filling large roles. This can be considered a pretty large risk but it ended up working out in their favor and the play was a huge success. Marlo Brando became a huge well-known star after his time spent working for Elia Kazan as character, Stanley Kowalski. Brando received a lot of praise from the public, including a nomination for an Academy Award. In a review of the first night of the performance written by Brooks Atkinson, Tennessee Williams’ work is described as “one of the most perfect marriages of acting and playwriting. For the acting and playwriting are perfectly blended

On December 3, 1947, the production premiered on Broadway for the first time and ran for a total of 855 shows. The opening night performance ended with audience being so stunned and amused that they applauded for a full thirty minutes. The scenes and dialogue consisted of controversial depictions of sexuality and brutality but most audience members seemed to interpret it as being very open and honest. By the time the production closed in 1949, it had won two awards: The Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play. There is no doubt that A Streetcar Named Desire has gone down in history as one of the most noteworthy and indispensable American dramatic works of the twentieth