Does the The Young Vic Sizzle or Fizzle with "A Streetcar Named Desire"?

Last Tuesday, I watched the Young Vic's modern production of "A Streetcar Named Desire", by acclaimed American playwright Tennessee Williams. I've never seen a staged version of this classic play, so I was really excited to see this NT Live performance.

Like many American students, I read "A Streetcar Named Desire" in high school, specifically in 11th grade English class, which focused on American literature. Although it has been nearly eight years since I read this play and I don't remember every detail about it, I do remember enjoying it. "A Streetcar Named Desire," for some reason has always stayed with me and fascinates me to this day. 

For those who are not familiar with the plot of "A Streetcar Named Desire," here is a super brief overview of the play, courtesy imdb.com: Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her. The story is significantly more complex, but that is a really simple to-the-point overview. 

After we finished reading the play, my English teacher screened the 1951 film version in class. I will never forget this because it was my first Marlon Brando film and I fell madly in love with him. This black and white film was also probably one of the first "classic films" I'd ever seen. (Please don't judge me --- although I love films from the "Golden Age of Hollywood" now, back then, I wasn't very sophisticated.)

I will never forget Viven Leigh as the infamous Blanche DuBois. Having starred in "Gone With the Wind" in 1939, she certainly knew how to play a Southern Belle, and she did this flawlessly in both films, in my opinion. Later in her career (the 1950s), Vivien Leigh was crippled by her own mental illness. She battled depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Leigh's psychosis put a huge amount of strain on her acting career, as well as her marriage to Laurence Olivier. In his autobiography, published many years after his divorce from Leigh, Oliver wrote: "Throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever tightening spirals, she retained her own invidiual canniness --- an ability to disguise her try mental condition from almost all expect me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble." I think Leigh could relate to Blanche DuBois and because of that, she perfected the role and set a standard of excellence that no other actress can compare to.

Happier days for Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leight

In the 1951 film adaptation of "A Streetcar Named Desire," who could forget the sexual tension between Blanche (Vivien Leigh) and Stanley (Marlon Brando). Not to mention Brando's animal magnetism! Good god. I wanted to hate Stanley because he is quite a brute --- he has a temper, he hits his wife --- but Brando is just so handsome and oozes masculinity and had me swooning every time he came on screen! I always feel particularly conflicted when a very distraught Stanley screams for his wife, after her drunkenly strikes her. You want hate Stanley, but with his puppy dog eyes and sincere distress, I always fall in love with Brando --- just like Stella!

I hesitate to say that I love this play because it is a rather depressing story, but some part of me does love it. Perhaps saying that I am intrigued by "A Streetcar Named Desire" is more appropriate, but my fascination runs deeper than that. After being bored by The Scarlet Letter and The Grapes of Wrath, "A Streetcar Named Desire" was like a breath of fresh air. As an 11th grade student, this play was unlike anything I'd ever read. Considering that the play was written in the late 1940s, I was shocked to discover that Tennessee Williams writes about sex, domestic violence, poverty, homosexuality, and insanity --- all somewhat dark and taboo subjects at that time period.

When I hear the title "A Streetcar Named Desire", my brain evokes images of dimly light New Orleans streets, cigarette smoke, sultry jazz playing in the background, raw sexual energy, raging emotions, flickers of psychosis, and of course, Marlon Brando. The Young Vic's modern production captured some of that, but not all of it --- at least not as well as I had hoped. Perhaps my expectations were too high for this production, I don't know.

Stanley (Ben Foster) hosts poker night with his buddies

I've said this in the past and I will say it again: I do not care for modern performances. I prefer to have things set in their designated time period. Perhaps it's because I am a history major, I don't know. If the production is updated well, that's fine, but sometimes, these modern re-tellings just don't do it for me. The staging of "A Streetcar Named Desire" was interesting in that it was a mix of 1948 and 2014. You had modern appliances like a wireless phone, but because the show used the original text, you heard mention of things like Western Union. Those inconsistencies, which bothered me, may not have bothered others. Like I said, I studied history and I like things to be consistent. 

The Young Vic's set was very minimalist and quite interesting.  The apartment was simple, there were no walls (so as to allow the audience to watch the action), but most interesting, the stage rotated. I believe the phrase used was that the performance was done "in the round." The idea behind this is to allow audience members to gain varying perspectives and views of what's going on throughout the production. I've never really heard of this sort of staging, so I was intrigued. Overall, I think it worked well, although it was annoying when the camera would end up filming a piece of the door during peak moments of emotional explosions. 

The very minimalist and modern set

I thought the Young Vic's casting, overall was quite good. I was wondering whether the cast would use Southern accents or their normal voice, what with this play being performed in London. I was delighted to hear everyone speaking in their best Southern accent. 

Vanessa Kirby was cast as Stella Kowalski (nee Du Bois), Blanche's sister. Stella lives with her husband, Stanley, in an impoverished neighborhood of New Orleans. I have always found Stella to be a sympathetic character. As tensions mount between Blanche and Stanley, she is always forced to play referee --- she's stuck between her sister and her husband. She can't seem to please either individual without hurting someone and sometimes, she is the one who gets hurt as a casualty of the crossfire between Stanley and Blanche. From start to finish, Stella is dealt one difficult decision after another. 

I thought Kirby's performance was quite good. Her Southern accent wasn't terrible and I thought her ability to flawlessly translate from "happy Stella" to "angry Stella" was excellent. I found her quite convincing. It took me a while to figure out where I'd seen Kirby, when suddenly the lightbulb went off. She starred as Ruth Elms is the brilliant BBC series "The Hour", as well as in the newest BBC adaptation of "Great Expectations", where she starred as Estella, alongside Gillian Anderson, who played Miss Havisham!

Vanessa Kirby as Stella Kowalski (nee Du Bois)

The big name star attraction of the show was Gillian Anderson, who played Blanche DuBois. Normally, I am a Gillian Anderson fan, but this just didn't do it for me. I don't know that this was her best performance, although I think she made a valiant effort. Unlike Vivien Leigh's performance, Anderson's portrayal of Blanche felt a bit forced to me. It's like she was trying too hard to have a mental breakdown. Also, Anderson kept doing this weird high pitched fake laugh which drove me crazy. I cringed every time she did it. I wanted to love Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois, I mean it's Agent Scully!!!, but sadly, I did not…Towards the end of the play, she had me rolling my eyes and thinking, "ok, time to have your breakdown…!"

Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois

For me, Ben Foster stole the show as Stanley Kowalski. Marlon Brando's shoes are tough to fill, but I think Foster succeeded in doing just that! I thought Foster brilliantly captured the essence of Stanley Kowalski. He was testosterone driven, a realist, alcoholic, macho guy --- but beneath all that, he was loving and protective of his family. He doesn't like being taken for a ride, and he made that VERY CLEAR. Although Stanley has anger management issues, he is madly in love with his wife, and that was crystal clear in Foster's performance. Whilst Blanche journeys down a spiral of psychological destruction, Stanley's downward journey is filled with suspicion and rage. All I can say is, I think Foster was very convincing and I applaud him. I knew the name, but I wasn't familiar with Foster's work. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that is American. 

Unlike the film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire", this production seemed to focus more on the psychology of the characters, specifically Blanche and Stanley, more than anything else. The film version certainly played up the sexual tension between Stanley and Blanche, and that tension exploded at the end, when Brando has his way with Leigh. That storyline was still present in the Young Vic production, however, I think more time was put into developing Blanche's deteriorating mindset and really emphasizing her divorce from reality. Yes, the show did run long and sometimes I got bored, wishing the scene would move on, but I will give the Young Vic credit for doing a great job of spotlighting Blanche's psychosis. You could see the evolution of Blanche/breakdown of Blanche from start to finish. 

Overall, I'd say the Young Vic's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" was simply "okay." I wasn't blown away, like I was "Medea" (National Theater). I thought the modern interpretation of the play was interesting and most of the acting was well done, but it was really long and it was tedious at times. Blanche's delusions and ranting and weird Southern accent was irritating after a while and there were many moments where I thought, "ok guys, wrap it up." I did think that the staging was brilliantly done and the presentation of Blanche's deteriorating grasp of reality was also executed wonderfully. Not the best play I've ever seen, but it's not the worst. 

Blanche's nerves cannot handle Stanley's confrontations

NOTE: I do not own any of these pictures. I found those on google.