Review: A Streetcar Named Desire

“How pretty the sky is! I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down.”

Image Credit: Dik Ng

The ADC theatre was sold out on this, the closing night of A Streetcar Named Desire, the air close and low, evocative of the cloying humidity of New Orleans. What followed was true to this initial impression: immersive, claustrophobic, and loyal to Tennessee Williams. Bella Ofo’s directive vision adeptly toes the line between stylistic flair and a more simplistic clarity. Hers was a production that boasted terse humour and bare, visceral emotion unclouded by the elaborate staging. I liked particularly the use of musical motifs to indicate Blanche’s degenerative flashbacks, an effective choice in abetting an unforgettable performance, and the choice to have absent and indeed dead characters appear on stage likewise aided the atmospheric build, particularly pertaining to Blanche’s fragile psyche.

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Jules Coyle is phenomenal as Blanche. Her frenetic energy spills outwards as her belongings do, across the stage: she does such justice to a psyche fraught with ghosts and swiftly degenerating that it was at times hard to watch. Coyle’s halting mannerisms created a visage that was both larger than life and heartbreakingly fragile – her delivery of that final line had the audience with their hearts in their mouths. Her depiction of Blanche’s deteriorative trajectory was a sight to behold. Stella is played sober and stalwart, Lauren Akinluyi carries herself with a quiet dignity, which, when it breaks, makes manifest great emotive powers in the play’s closing scene. Hers and Coyle’s unwavering Southern accents were truly impressive and did much for the authenticity and transformative powers of the overall production. The costuming of the sisters did much to further their respective characterisations, with Blanche garbed in a detritus of glamour that she at first bears aloft but eventually seems to fold beneath, whilst Stella’s monochrome outfits cast a striking silhouette in a manner that imbues a certain dignity and modernity to her visage; Chloe Jacob and Fifi Gilani did commendable work on costuming here.

Jude King’s Stanley was on occasion quieter than the intensity of heightened emotion required by the play’s most demanding scenes, but nonetheless gave a compelling portrait of soured masculinity, raising real menace in his violent outbursts towards Akinluyi’s Stella. Jacob Mellor plays Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell with a certain halting awkwardness that is rewarding to his dynamic with Coyle’s Blanche, lending a shy clumsiness to their fumbling courtship; the two play off each other in a manner that is tender, deeply endearing, and ultimately, sorely painful.

The real delight of the production was its atmospheric staging. I was impressed by the cohesion of the production in its sound design and lighting, fostering a generative energy towards catastrophe, especially in that visual cue of the streetcar, true to Tennessee Williams’ stage directions. Clotilde Dumonte’s set – functional, visually compelling, and evocative of New Orleans – was truly remarkable. The claustrophobia of the sisters’ and Stanley’s living arrangement is generated largely by these skilful staging decisions. The use of montage when supporting characters ascended and descended the stairs and balcony above was a nice touch, and the direction of the ensemble was one of the production’s great merits. I also commend the approach to staging intimacy, in exercising sensitivity without detracting from the visual horror and thematic significance of the events depicted, handled with aplomb by the cast and intimacy coordinator (Sophia Orr).

This atmospheric rendition of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire was sleek, delightful, at its best deeply affecting, and always loyal to its source material- a commendable production.

4/5

Featured Image Credit: Dik Ng