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Blanche DuBois' worst nightmare: When the audience roots for Stanley
Walnut's "Streetcar Named Desire' (3rd review)
Steve Cohen
Billy Wilder once said that audiences are never wrong. When a play elicits inappropriate responses, it's not the patrons' fault.
That's what I had to remind myself when I saw the opening night of the Walnut Street Theatre's revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Although the subjects, such as homosexuality and sexual liaisons between a 17-year-old student and his teacher, are not as shocking as when the play was new in 1947, Streetcar remains a great play. But something's wrong when a rape scene causes laughter and when titters greet the heroine's reaction to a doctor from a mental institution who's about to take her away.
The production is imposingly seedy, the casting is solid and Malcolm Black's direction is knowledgeable. The problem is that Susan Riley Stevens does a good job of acting Blanche but never convincingly inhabits her. An ideal Blanche DuBois needs to be vulnerable, wispy, fragile and heartbreaking. Stevens seems too healthy, too normal, and we don't care for her above all the others. In fact, in her clashes with her brother-in-law, the boorish Stanley Kowalski, the audience seems to be rooting for Stanley.
To get back to that rape scene: People weren't laughing because they thought rape was funny. They were laughing because they were happy that Stanley was triumphing over Blanche. That's not the scene's intent. This is a tragedy about Blanche.
Is Stanley subservient?
Stanley's no hero. He may be the main male character, but Marlon Brando got the part after the esteemed stage and film actor John Garfield turned it down because he felt it was a subservient role. Jeff Coon gives us a strong, sympathetic and engaging Stanley in this production.
There are instances in theater history where the balance between roles changed over the years, to everyone's benefit. In the original King and I, the king was conceived as a supporting player. But A Streetcar Named Desire loses impact when the audience divides its loyalties between Blanche and Stanley.
There's perfect physical synchronicity for the friends Stanley and Mitch (superbly played by Scott Greer). Not so for the DuBois sisters. Stevens as Blanche is taller and appears to be more robust than her sister Stella (played well by Sandra Struthers), where fragility, tenderness and instability are needed instead.
The challenge of Blanche's part
Physique isn't all-important. But it's an essential ingredient for such an exceedingly challenging part. How challenging is it? Blanche is a sexual predator and a liar, yet we must identify with her and feel her pain, and her appearance must help the audience see her the right way.
Perhaps an actress can convince us she's Blanche even if she isn't as tiny as Tallulah Bankhead, whom Tennessee Williams pictured in the role, or Jessica Tandy, who premiered it when she was 38. But this is a tough challenge.
All that said, seeing this play again is a privilege. The imagery, the poetry and the feelings are overwhelming. Streetcar is about illusions"“ about attempting to disguise the decay and depravity of both New Orleans and its visitor, Blanche DuBois. "I don't want realism," Blanche says. "I want magic." This production of A Streetcar Named Desire has magic.
To read another review by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read another review by Anne R. Fabbri, click here.
That's what I had to remind myself when I saw the opening night of the Walnut Street Theatre's revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Although the subjects, such as homosexuality and sexual liaisons between a 17-year-old student and his teacher, are not as shocking as when the play was new in 1947, Streetcar remains a great play. But something's wrong when a rape scene causes laughter and when titters greet the heroine's reaction to a doctor from a mental institution who's about to take her away.
The production is imposingly seedy, the casting is solid and Malcolm Black's direction is knowledgeable. The problem is that Susan Riley Stevens does a good job of acting Blanche but never convincingly inhabits her. An ideal Blanche DuBois needs to be vulnerable, wispy, fragile and heartbreaking. Stevens seems too healthy, too normal, and we don't care for her above all the others. In fact, in her clashes with her brother-in-law, the boorish Stanley Kowalski, the audience seems to be rooting for Stanley.
To get back to that rape scene: People weren't laughing because they thought rape was funny. They were laughing because they were happy that Stanley was triumphing over Blanche. That's not the scene's intent. This is a tragedy about Blanche.
Is Stanley subservient?
Stanley's no hero. He may be the main male character, but Marlon Brando got the part after the esteemed stage and film actor John Garfield turned it down because he felt it was a subservient role. Jeff Coon gives us a strong, sympathetic and engaging Stanley in this production.
There are instances in theater history where the balance between roles changed over the years, to everyone's benefit. In the original King and I, the king was conceived as a supporting player. But A Streetcar Named Desire loses impact when the audience divides its loyalties between Blanche and Stanley.
There's perfect physical synchronicity for the friends Stanley and Mitch (superbly played by Scott Greer). Not so for the DuBois sisters. Stevens as Blanche is taller and appears to be more robust than her sister Stella (played well by Sandra Struthers), where fragility, tenderness and instability are needed instead.
The challenge of Blanche's part
Physique isn't all-important. But it's an essential ingredient for such an exceedingly challenging part. How challenging is it? Blanche is a sexual predator and a liar, yet we must identify with her and feel her pain, and her appearance must help the audience see her the right way.
Perhaps an actress can convince us she's Blanche even if she isn't as tiny as Tallulah Bankhead, whom Tennessee Williams pictured in the role, or Jessica Tandy, who premiered it when she was 38. But this is a tough challenge.
All that said, seeing this play again is a privilege. The imagery, the poetry and the feelings are overwhelming. Streetcar is about illusions"“ about attempting to disguise the decay and depravity of both New Orleans and its visitor, Blanche DuBois. "I don't want realism," Blanche says. "I want magic." This production of A Streetcar Named Desire has magic.
To read another review by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read another review by Anne R. Fabbri, click here.
What, When, Where
A Streetcar Named Desire. By Tennessee Williams; directed by Malcolm Black. Through March 1, 2009 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. (215) 574-3555 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org.
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