1. Scene 10

2. Summary

3. Plastic Theatre
Realism – in theatre – popularised in Europe in late 1900s (Ibsen, Chekhov) – depicted real life characters, inner states, domestic and personal – moved away from melodrama. Spread to America in early 1900s replacing melodrama (longing for the ‘old country’ for example).

4. Plastic Theatre
Expressionism – in theatre – presenting ideas from a subjective perspective – symbolic – distorting to create emotional effects or change mood – use of colour

5. ‘Plastic’ theatre – Williams incorporates elements of expressionism into a realistic play.
Williams insisted that setting, properties, music, sound, and visual effects—all the elements of staging—must combine to reflect and enhance the action, theme, characters, and language.
The visual and audible aspects of a Streetcar Named Desire are as important as the dialogue. Tennessee Williams uses these ‘plastic’ elements to convey to the audience the psychological states of the characters as well as develop the themes and ideas of the play.
Plastic Theatre

6. Plastic Theatre Some Symbols of Plastic Theatre
The light bulb – the naked light bulb represents truth and reality.
Plastic Theatre
The paper lantern – symbolising something flimsy which is used to disguise reality, create an illusion and hide the truth. It cannot last.
White clothes – symbolising purity and innocence.

7. Plastic Theatre Some Symbols of Plastic Theatre
The packet of meat that Stanley throws at Stella and her eager catching of it represents their sexual relationship.
Plastic Theatre
Bathing – Blanche’s constant bathing represents her need to cleanse herself of the impurities and disappointments of her past. It also makes her feel ‘girlish’.
Polka Music – a reminder for Blanche of the way she lost her husband. It haunts her.

8. What aspects of this ‘plastic theatre’ does Williams utilize in Scene 10?
The stage directions say that the walls of the flat ‘have become transparent’ symbolising the outside, real and sordid world encroaching on Blanche's imaginary world where she must be shielded from reality.
‘lurid reflections’ and ‘inhuman voices’ fill Blanche's imagination, allowing the audience to fully appreciate her state of mind, as we also hear them. ?
Plastic Theatre
Clothing
Colour
The mirror
The blue piano
The sound of the train
The prostitute and drunk

9. Key Quotations Can you find…
A line that suggests even Blanche’s fantasies contain dark echoes
A sinister reference to the end of Scene 9
A symbol of the gulf between appearance and reality
A symbol of tension bubbling over
A line hinting at Blanche’s delusion
A Biblical allusion
A series of interjections hinting at Blanche’s disintegration
A simile to convey Blanche’s insanity
A line that portrays Stanley as a predator or animalistic
A suggestion of fatalism, or inevitability
Key Quotations

10. The importance of the rape scene
Read the essays you have been given on the issue of the rape scene in the play – and on screen.
Highlight any useful AO5 quotations that might be able to help you critically interpret the scene and play.
The importance of the rape scene