"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses the combined effects of lighting, sound, costume and symbolism to influence and control the audience's response. The play is intentionally an emotive one. It evokes an emotional response from the audience that is not necessarily reasoned or logical. The response to Streetcar is generally a uniformed one. As emotional as it is, by the end of the play most of the audience feels the same way towards the characters and the play in general. Williams managed to do this through his use of various theatrical devices.
One of the most important of these is lighting. Williams' use of lighting is extremely clever and effective. Take, for example, the poker night in scene three. …