"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
Lace Market Theatre

You can see why this play was so shocking when it was first performed in theatres in the late 1940s as it deals with adultery, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, gambling and mental illness. This is also the reason it has stood the test of time. The characters are beautifully flawed and the plot twists and turns, giving away the story a little at a time, keeping your attention every step of the way.

If you can disengage yourself from the film version, you can see that this cast have taken the characters and rudiments of the characters and have slightly remoulded them around themselves and their own personal set of acting skills. You won’t be seeing a Marlon Brando or Vivienne Leigh lookalikes or soundalikes in this production. You won’t need to as the cast have enough experience and are charismatic enough to take the story and carry it.

You can almost feel the New Orleans heat in this production as fading southern belle, Blanche DuBois, seeks solace with her sister, Stella Kowalski, after her world starts to crumble. Her downward spiral brings her face-to-face with Stella’s husband, the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski. Temperatures soar and passions rise, as Blanche and Stanley battle for Stella’s soul.

Danielle Amie Easter (Blanche) gave an absolute blinder of a performance and what a completely believable accent. The gradual decline of her mental health was like a slow burn, exacerbated though by Stanley's mental and physical actions. This is such a brilliant and complex role for any woman to play, making that role feel as natural as it looked from the audience takes an actor who knows just how to pitch that character. Danielle is that actor. Oh, and I love the comedy regarding the drinks at the start of the play.

Alex Wrampling (Stella) showed us the two sides of Blanche's sister, and I loved the way that there was that gradual flipping of the coin, revealing that she had the better end of the stick, especially after the put downs from Blanche at the start. As Blanche showed an even more glamorous side, Stella appeared the more dowdy, creating that sliding scale of character and appearance. A stellar performance.

Kelvin P. Coleman (Stanley), well what can I say? I have never seen Kelvin play anything like this in the past. Stanley creates the unease and Kelvin delivers the unease. Physically he looked different without the facial hair, and you would not believe how different he looks and the effect this physical change can make to create this character. You actually felt a little uneasy with this timebomb, and that, believe me, is just what you should feel. That is a sign that actor and director have both done their homework, and their intended job.

Jak Truswell (Mitch), again gives us two sides of the character with Blanche, and possibly helping her on the down slide, especially after we learn about Blanche's past. A really concentrated performance from an actor I've seen give some amazing performances over the year. Here's another passionate role to add to the list.

Dawn Price (Eunice), the neighbour upstairs who looks out for Stella. But this character has her own marital issues. Dawn presents this character as the sort of woman that every woman wants on her side. Strong, protective but also has the experience to be able to give comment and help.

Completing the cast are Paul Spruce (Steve Hubbel), John Halstead (Pablo Gonzales), Raj Singh (Young Collector/Sailor), Rupert Butt (Doctor), Marie Morehen (Matron and Flower Seller), Alistair Hudson (Vendor), Molly Wright (Woman In the Street) and Henry Vervoorts (Allen Grey).

The set is a wonderful piece of design (Mark James and Philip Makin) which really puts you right in the heart of the action and creates the whole 1940’s New Orleans feel.

Directed by Wayne Parkin, assisted by Peter Konowalik, they have not missed a thing, even bringing in a voice coach to get that specific regional accent nailed and a “poker guru”. Poker would go right over my head but is an integral and explosive part of the play but I do appreciate a finely turned out accent, which is exactly what we have in this here play, thanks to voice coach, Julie Fleming.

The little things that may go un-noticed make this play as realistic as it is. Simple things like having a bathroom suite that you only get to see glimpses of through the bathroom door.

Stanley actually looking like he had been soaked in the shower by his poker mates.

The hole in the bathroom door that had been patched up which gives us an idea that Stanley had had problems with his temper in the past.

These are things that maybe a Director with not the same eye for detail may have missed or not bothered with. they may be small things but they add that extra layer that says things to an audience member, production wise and story wise.

Sound Design (Simon Carter) and Lighting Design (Allan Green). Both of these very important in this play. The jazz soundtrack was perfect for this play, and being a Billie Holiday fan, I loved the inclusion of "Strange Fruit".

I did notice an eagerness on the lighting trigger finger at the start.

I must also give a mention to the wardrobe department for some very glamorous clothes for Blanche and the contrasting outfits for Stella.

This play is powerful, it shocks, it makes you feel uneasy, it will have you chuckling in parts and in others feeling troubled about what you're seeing. I always say that if you leave a theatre without feeling something, the cast have not done their job. I'm very pleased to say that this cast did an excellent job.

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 2 February 2019. Yet again though it has sold out before opening night so your only chance of getting a ticket is by checking for ticket returns on the night, or possibly winning one in a poker game!

Read the original article here.

Outstanding production

TENNESSEE Williams is arguably the greatest American playwright, and A Streetcar Named Desire certainly his finest play. Moreover, its protagonist Blanche Dubois might be the most important female creation in all modern English-speaking theatre.

A pleasure to report, therefore, that Danielle Arnie Easter in her Lace Market debut delivers a brilliant performance as Blanche. Physically ideal for the role, she deploys articulation and body movement, especially fidgety manual gesture, convincingly. Here is a coquettish, repressed, deeply neurotic and self-deluded woman, a figure of heart-tugging pathos.

As Stanley Kdwalski, Kelvin P Coleman is insufficiently beefy and ape-like for the part. But he acts his way out of the problem; Kowalski's shrewd intelligence and atavistic boorishness are splendidly caught.

The all-important rape scene is remarkably well handled.

Stella Kowalski, in sharp contrast to her sister the humane and un-neurotic moral centre of the play, is done by Alex Wrampling in another fine performance. And there are others, like Jak Truswell's Mitch,

too numerous to mention.

But it's not just down to the acting. Wayne Parkin, in an Lave Market Theatre directorial debut, gets together a combination of evocative period background music, great sound effects and lighting.

This outstanding production makes plain the tragedies of loss and unfulfilled desire.

A Streetcar Named Desire is at the Lace Market Theatre till Saturday

A Streetcar Named Desire

Staging an American classic like Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is a bold move for any theatre company. It's a heavyweight play, regarded by many as one of the most influential of the twentieth century. The latest Lace Market Theatre production, directed by Wayne Parkin, rattles along powerfully and rises to the challenge with convincing central performances.

The curious title of this play comes from Desire, a street in New Orleans. The tram bearing the street's name used to rumble past Williams' tiny French Quarter apartment several times a day; he is said to have drawn inspiration from its clanging bell. That the streetcar has been preserved as a historic and literary monument is testament to the cultural significance of this play.

Set in boisterous 1940s New Orleans, this Pulitzer prize winning domestic drama follows fading southern belle Blanche Dubois (Danielle Amie Easter) as she arrives to stay with her sister, Stella Kowalski (Alex Wrampling). Blanche's delusions of grandeur soon bring her into conflict with Stella's crude, brutish husband Stanley (Kelvin Coleman). The play remains a shocking study of sexual frustration and violence as Stanley brutally destroys Blanche's fantasies of refinement.

Danielle Amie Easter's vulnerable and beautifully awkward Blanche had a breathy southern accent full of unspoken pain, at her most affecting when engaged in loaded flirtations with both Stanley and Mitch (Jak Truswell nicely capturing the shy embarrassment of this 'love interest' character who lives with his mother). The complexities of family relationships sit at the heart of this play, as in so much of Williams' work, and there was powerful stage chemistry between the sisters, Alex Wrampling turning in a nuanced and emotionally powerful performance as Stella. The wordless scene in which she returns to her abusive husband following a beating was full of pathos. Marlon Brando's iconic performance in the 1951 film looms large over any production of this play. Kevin Coleman made the role of Stanley Kowalski his own, presenting us with less overt rage and more quiet menace as he prowled the stage like a caged animal.

The set design (Mark James and Philip Makin) effectively evoked the claustrophobia and heat of a run-down New Orleans tenement building apartment. The two rooms (divided only by a curtain) in which the action of the play unfolded were worn, battered and damaged, like the characters who inhabited it.

Ultimately, this is a play which focuses on language and character over plot, with Williams exploring complex and difficult themes of violence, identity, insanity, love, sex and gender. It made for an intense and stimulating evening of theatre.

A Streetcar Named Desire is running at the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham until 2nd February.