THE HANGOVER REPORT – Gillian Anderson leads an uneven STREETCAR at St. Ann’s Warehouse

20160429streetcar_promo1Last night, I caught yet another revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, where it is completing its run. Among the pack, Benedict Andrews’ restless, modern dress and ultimately uneven production – a transfer from London’s Young Vic Theatre – falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. It certainly won’t erase memories of Cate Blanchett’s exquisite, pungent performance as Blanche DuBois in Sydney Theatre Company’s revival a few season back.

Gillian Anderson does a mostly admirable job with the iconic role of Blanche. However, as the long evening progresses, she starts pushing increasingly harder, resulting in moments of amped-up, distracting shrillness. Blanche’s final breakdown, therefore, fails to be as shattering as it was meant to be. Vanessa Kirby’s sensitive, effortlessly sensual Stella fares better. Hers is a beautifully textured performance that hits the all the right notes – only she strikes me as viable in Mr. Andrews contemporary setting. Ben Foster is a less psychologically imposing Stanley Kowalski than I’ve seen in the past. The good-looking Mr. Foster plays Stanley more as a virile, petulant child than a true adversary for Blanche, which is a valid, if less effective, approach. Lastly, Corey Johnson is excellent and convincing in the thankless role of Mitch.

I also found the production design to be somewhat problematic. Magda Willi’s continuously revolving set is initially exciting to watch, but at the end of the day it proved frustrating not to be able to focus on the actors’ work (often times their backs were to you or they were obstructed by a scenic element), especially during key scenes. The rest of the design team includes Jon Clark for his flashy lighting and Paul Arditti for his assaultive sound design.

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A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Off-Broadway, Play
St. Ann’s Warehouse (a Young Vic & Joshua Andrews Co-Production)
3 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Through June 4

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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