How do I comment on Williams use of staging in an essay on A Streetcar Named Desire?

Firstly, I would advise a student to remember that Streetcar is a play, not a novel therefore the audience won’t see Williams’ highly detailed stage directions. As Streetcar is a play it is essential to being in elements of staging as staging is crucial in how the audience perceives the characters of Blanche, Stanley, Stella and Mitch. Instead focus on the expressionistic devices he employs and use the correct terminology such as costuming, lighting, sounds, the use of tableau vivant, melodramatic dialogue and actions of the actors. Through the use of staging you can link this to Williams’ wider messages of the conflict between the Old and New South after the Civil war (an example of context) and his fear of the new monopolistic society in which outsiders (such as Blanche) are marginalised. For instance, the use of costuming that Williams uses highlights this point well. One could not only compare the contrast between Stanley (who is described as a ‘gaudy seedbearer’ – which you could comment on through word level analysis denotes for life and vitality - and is dressed in a ‘green and scarlet silk bowling shirt’, the loud primary colours of which he is dressed contrasts to Blanche’s ‘white fluffy bodice’ and perhaps suggests that he is emblematic of the reality that Blanche is trying to avoid) and Blanche’s costumes at the beginning of the play, but also the contrast in Blanche’s costumes versus scene 1 and scene 10. Indeed, in scene 1 she is ‘daintily dressed’ in a ‘white fluffy bodice’ whereas in scene 10 her dress is ‘soiled and crumpled.’ Here you can engage in some word level analysis and bring in elements of the Southern gothic style Williams was trying to imitate. One can also comment on the use of sound such as the train and the use of the ‘Blue Piano.’ The train arguably is symbolic of the unstoppable force of change which ultimately destroys Blanche and her way of life, whilst the ‘Blue Piano’ highlights Stanley’s dominance. You could again link to the context in which Williams was writing, for example, the conflict between Old and New South and the rise of industrialism (represented in Stanley) and the decay of the Old South (represented in Blanche who is incapable of adapting to the New South). Sound is not only used to reveal Stanley’s dominance, but also the decaying sanity of Blanche represented in the non-diegetic sounds of the Varsouviana which changes from a ‘minor’ to a ‘major tone’ as well as the ‘inhuman jungle voices’ described. Lighting is also crucial to Williams use of staging. For instance, the tableau vivant created in scene 3. Another key way to incorporate or comment on the use of staging is to look at how other productions interpreted the stage directions offered by Williams. For instance, in the 2014 Benedict Andrews production, in Scene 10 Gillian Anderson applied smeared makeup to further reveal her debased reality and her ‘prom queen’ delusions. Meanwhile, in the 1951 Kazan production, Kazan made the actual set smaller in order to mirror Blanche’s growing insanity.