Resources on Tennessee Williams

A collection of eleven critical essays on Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire arranged in chronological order of publication.

Essays contain an examination of the play in light of post-war American culture and censorship as well as a comparison of Williams's treatment of tragedy with Arthur Miller's in his equally iconic play, Death of a Salesman. Other essays consider how repre

One of the most important plays of the twentieth century, A Streetcar Named Desire revolutionised the modern stage. This book offers the first continuous history of the play in production from 1947 to 1998 with an emphasis on the collaborative achievement of Tennessee Williams, Elia Kazan, and Jo Mielziner in the Broadway premiere. From there chapters survey major national premieres by the world's leading directors including those by Seki Sano (Mexico), Luchino Visconti (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), Jean Cocteau (France ) and Laurence Olivier (England). Philip Kolin also evaluates key English-language revivals and assesses how the script evolved and adapted to cultural changes. Interpretations by Black and gay theatre companies also receive analyses and transformations into other media, such as ballet, film, television, and opera (premiered in 1998) form an important part of the overall study.