Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A nervous contemporary energy and a superb Paul Mescal drive a rebalanced STREETCAR

• By drediman
• March 12, 2025
• No Comments

Last night, the highly anticipated Almeida Theatre revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater. The production arrives on our shores after having proven to be a sold out sensation across the pond in London — first at the Almeida’s cozy home in Islington, then subsequently for an extended engagement in the West End. To this day, the play — one of the indisputable classics in the canon of American drama — still manages to astonish theatergoers with its visceral power. In short, the play tells the story of one Blanche DuBois, a flighty, fading Southern belle who, after a number of unfortunate incidents, is forced to live in squalid quarters in New Orleans with her younger sister Stella and her brutish husband Stanley.

The production has been directed by Rebecca Frecknall, who is also currently represented in New York by her divisive production of Cabaret. Her Streetcar is a bold, barebones reconsideration — a decidedly modern take that substantially rebalances character relationships and lifts much of the play’s pungent Southern atmosphere in favor of a more universal tone. It’s a muscular staging whose scenes melt into each other with impressive fluidity, although I did get the sense at times that some of Williams’ iconic dialogue was being rushed (to be fair, Williams is one of our more verbose, flowery playwrights). Throughout, there are directorial flourishes aplenty, the most successful being the incorporation of the percussive riffs of a live drummer (the excellent Rob Dempsey), which imbues the play with a nervous contemporary energy that brilliantly reflects the frayed state of many of the chracters’ nerves, particularly Blanche’s. A tad less successful is the unnecessary incorporation of a modern dancer to represent the ghost of Blanche’s deceased husband, as well as the general kineticism of the production, which at times detracts from the play’s more intimate moments and overpowers some of the language.

Now on to the performances. In the central role of Blanche, Patsy Ferran (Living, God’s Own Country) gives us a more delicate Blanche — certainly one of the more youthful iterations of the character I’ve seen. In this Streetcar, there is no doubt of her tragic victimhood, which renders her confrontational scenes with Stanley in a fascinating new light. Conversely, Anjana Vasan’s Stella is a sturdier creation than I’ve encountered before, particularly in the way the character inserts her conflicted presence in the play’s harrowing final stretch. Dominating throughout is Paul Mescal’s superb Stanley. The heartthrob film star proves his mettle as a stage actor, giving an assertive and animalistic performance that often startles with its force. Indeed, the production comes to ferocious life whenever he’s onstage. The rest of the cast is very good, notably Dwane Walcott as a Mitch with an actual spine and Janet Etuk as an especially colorful and authoritative Eunice.

RECOMMENDED

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Off-Broadway, Play
Brooklyn Academy of Music
2 hours, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 6