A Streetcar Named Desire

Thank God for the National Theatre. Their 'National Theatre Live' broadcasts have facilitated international audiences for the tremendous productions in and around London. I would have given a limb to see the Gillian Anderson/Ben Foster cast of A Streetcar Named Desire; thankfully, I didn't have to. 

This Streetcar was staged at London's Young Vic, a blackbox space that is reimagined with every production. The scenic design for this production is unusual; Magda Willi gave the set a mod feel - later fifties, more sixties style to the unit set. She may also have collaborated with Ikea. I'm not quite sure. More remarkable is the fact that the set is on a turntable. The movement is slow, but nearly constant, intended to engage the audience in a way that they might not otherwise have participated. Director Benedict Andrews uses the set well, whether emphasizing the motion of the set, or simply guiding his actors on the narrow platform. The apartment is transparent, having only doors and posts, the walls implied, the actors both liberated by the space and given the responsibility of making it as claustrophobic or open as needed. The cast is more than up to the task.

It's a different cast than you might expect. As Stella, Vanessa Kirby is slim and beautiful, and whereas many companies might cast a more homely figure, Andrews' cast recognizes the fact that only Stella and Blanche need to suppose that Blanche is the prettier, more glamorous sister. Kirby's Stella is confident, sexy, stylish, and social. She's the one with a support system, even if her friends are also in abusive relationships. Stella is as sympathetic as Blanche, if not more so. 

For Stanley, director Andrews has chosen American actor Ben Foster. Foster has often played the volatile tough guy, in films like The Messenger and 3:10 to Yuma, but here he's bulked up a bit, tapped into Stanley's insecurities and his protective instincts. It's much easier to sympathize with his Stanley, rather than simply find oneself attracted to Brando's hyper-masculine apeman. 

I adore this thoroughly well-balanced and modern production. It's too easy to give the play to Stanley and Blanche - but there is so much more to be gotten out of inviting the audience into a complete world.