THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The Almeida is on to a winner here with acclaimed director Rebecca Frecknall (Olivier for Cabaret), movie actor of the moment Paul Mescal (Normal People; Aftersun) and this eternal classic.
They hit the rocks with just 4 days to the previews though, when leading lady Lydia Wilson had to withdraw through injury and Patsy Ferran gamely took over the lead. She, of course, made a huge mark in Williams' Summer and Smoke, which transferred from this venue and was also directed by Frecknall, so I guess it was a case of 'phone a friend' for Rebecca. Ferran triumphs yet again and it is hard to imagine a better Blanche Dubois. She's more a young Bette Davis here than a Vivien Leigh, but she has that blend of fragility and steeliness which is perfect for Blanche, a woman who is seldom not performing.
Of late, here and on Broadway, we're used to seeing more mature stars play these great parts but surprisingly Williams original text ages Stella at 25 and Blanche at 30. Frecknall, who tackles classics like they're new plays, rightly strikes out for a young cast here and also brings to it her signature use of physical movement. Here she uses beautifully calibrated slow-motion for key scenes and her movement direction (to Angus McRae's great music) gives the piece a fluidity which matches both the haze of the New Orleans summer heat and Blanche's own drunken imaginings. The use of an insistent drum underscoring greatly ratchets up the tension at key moments. Crucially she stages it in the round and so can dispense with the dead time of moving props and furniture.
Despite this unconventional approach, the piece loses none of its poetry and Ferran gives Blanche's great 'arias' full rein. Ever the schoolteacher, she deploys words as her weapon of choice, while brother-in-law Stanley resorts to just brute force. She's great too on Blanche's innate ability to dominate all around her, making Stella run both errands and baths. She's washed up in their small apartment in mysterious circumstances and soon the no-nonsense, blue-collar, Stanley wants the bottom line about the estate which she appears to have lost and to which Stella and he had part entitlement.
Blanche is the archetypal Williams heroine the (on the surface at least) sensitive soul destined to be kicked around by gruff reality, but Ferran never allows her to be sentimental.
Stella is one of the great supporting roles in drama and here Anjana Vasan brilliantly captures her blend of pragmatism and passion, the middle way between the excesses of Stanley and Blanche. Her haunted face at the [spoiler!] removal of Blanche is unbearably poignant.
As well as the need for illusions the play caused such a stir in its time because it dared to honestly explore raw sexual desire. The animal attraction between Stanley and Stella both repels and attracts Blanche and contrasts with her own fatally misjudged attempts at wooing Mitch, whose solid, quiet, decency is perfectly embodied by Dwane Walcott.
Paul Mescal's boyish ordinariness is initially a surprise for Stanley, but you understand it's exactly part of his appeal to Stella, contrasting with the refined beaus of her youth. He gets Stanley's 'animal force' spot-on too. His bone chilling yells create an atmosphere of incipient violence which never wanes, but, he also lets us in on the intelligence beneath.
This is a welcome re-invigoration of this great classic and has a pulsating energy which is mesmerizing.
