A Streetcar Named Desire

August 3rd 2007 12:00 am | Theatre | Review - By Diana Simmonds

Streetcar remains a great play

Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Yvonne Kenny Luckily for the production, Kenny is one of the finest actresses on the operatic stage and, because the opera is so firmly rooted in the play, Blanche requires her interpreter to act more consistently and more effectively than to sing (anything of interest, that is, the hours and hours of recitative are almost like dialogue in the end). The result is touching and dramatic as Kenny trips the dark fantastic on the way to Blanche's undoing. It is a sustained, subtle and effective performance as she moves from imperious yet fearful: "I'm not going to put up in a hotel. I've got to be near you, Stella. I've got to be with people, I can't be alone ..."; to quietly unhinged as she takes to soaking in "a nice hot tub" ostensibly for her nerves, yet anyone even vaguely aware of Lady Macbeth's psychopathology would wonder what she's trying to wash away.

Kenny's performance is in telling contrast to that of Renee Fleming, who created the role in San Francisco. It's available on DVD and reveals why the American diva was praised for her vocal performance but not for her dramatic portrayal of Blanche: great though she is, Fleming is not a notable actress and Blanche absolutely has to be acted.

Stuart Skelton as Mitch ("the Karl Malden role", as someone inevitably said) and Antoinette Halloran's Stella are better served by their music, which is cast on a more lyrical and human level. Dominica Matthews as nosy upstairs neighbour Eunice Hubble also does well both as a singer and actress and Catherine Carby makes the most of her five minutes of sinister work as the wandering Mexican street seller of funerary flowers (the music is reminiscent of the real thing and therefore effective). Angus Wood has a nice moment as a young man who nearly falls for Blanche and the rest of the cast is also fine.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes has sung Stanley in two other productions overseas and clearly relishes the many opportunities this one gives him to show off his cut and buffed six-pack and pecs and ability to turn a torn vest into a sex accessory. Tahu Rhodes looks magnificent (if you fancy a bit of rough) and has a terrific voice but it's hard to get beyond the sense of a man "playing" at being hot, sweaty and crude ...

Nevertheless, that the performances and overall flow of the production are, in the main, fine is down to director Bruce Beresford, working on a complex yet economical and simple set (John Stoddart with lighting by Nigel Levings). It's a revolve featuring the three key areas of the Elysian Fields apartment: front yard, kitchen and bedroom - Beresford focuses his players in effective groups and movements. A nod to the movies comes from the mistily projected images (by Michael Gruchy), on a scrim and on the building, which evoke period New Orleans life and the ghostly faade of Belle Reve.

And Belle Reve - beautiful dream - is really he streetcar begins and ends for Blanche. As she is led away tenderly by the nice doctor from the funny farm telling him quietly and famously that she has always depended on the kindness of strangers, the lines that echo - tragically - in the minds are those she uttered a while before:

"Real? Who wants real? I want magic. That's what I try to give people."

Pages: <-Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 |

Send to Friend | Archive | Home | Subscribe