Director Elizabeth Newman’s stated aim of empathising with the characters who people Tennessee Williams’ classic 1947 work, allowing for their contradictions, is movingly fulfilled through a clutch of powerful performances under her surefooted direction.
Powerful and poignant, utterly gripping, this is one not to be missed.
At the heart of the piece lies Kirsty Stuart’s interpretation of central character Blanche Dubois, the faded Southern belle with a life full of lies. Stuart inhabits the mass of contradictions and moods, loathsome and pitiable by turns, as her life unravels towards a heartbreaking conclusion. She arrives at the home of sister, Stella and husband Stanley, a couple of rooms in a down at heel New Orleans neighbourhood. Initially the purpose of her visit is not clear. Stuart’s Blanche is at first, neat as a pin, nervy yet full of condescension and criticism for the apartment and its inhabitants. Slowly the truth emerges as she lets her hair down, that Blanche has nothing or no-one, and is only rich in self-delusion. It’s a kaleidoscope of characters, the picture changing when shaken and Stuart captures them all.
Nalini Chetty is young and lovely as sister Stella, in the thrall of her brutish husband Stanley. She tries to balance her sisterly love with the sexual power that Stanley has over her. Stanley is loathed by Blanche, dubbed common and coarse, and he comes roaring back at her in the only way he knows. Matthew Trevannion displays both the raging bull of a man determined to bring Blanche down, and the raw appeal that ties Stella to him.
There is great strength in the supporting cast playing neighbours and friends. To the sound of the blues, crackling away from time to time, they fill in the background as events move towards Blanche’s mental collapse.
Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping; this is not to be missed. Runs in repertoire until September 30.
