A Streetcar Named Desire

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is the latest Old Mill Theatre Presentation. This Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer winning classic is directed by Dannielle Ashton. It was written about the time of the Old Mill’s opening, 60 years ago. The play is showing at the Old Mill Theatre in South Perth, nightly at 8.00 pm until 25^thJuly with a 2.00 pm matinee on 12^th July. BOOKING ESSENTIAL, VERY FEW SEATS LEFT.

         Just after the Second World War, schoolmistress Blanche Dubois (Jenny McCann), who lives in a permanent state of fantasy, goes to live at the home of her unassuming sister, Stella (Gemma Northover) and rough-diamond brother-in-law, Stanley (Stephen Roberts) in a poor, ethnic area of New Orleans. Stanley is streetwise and will not accept bullshit from anyone – not even family – and isn’t slow to point out any of his suspicions.

        Now, after a failed marriage, Blanche is a 'faded southern Belle', desperate to have a man - not for her normal carnal reasons – but to give her a new life of security, respectability and luxury. Can Stanley’s close friend Mitch (Chris Thomas) help? Will Blanche capture her ‘magic’?

         Stella learns of financial problems within the family, so seeks the help of her landlady Eunice (Jayma Knudson) who lives upstairs.

Tennessee Williams’ plays have an amazing structure, every sentence is precise and totally relevant, every place name and character name carefully selected for the hidden meaning or its derivation. There are numerous metaphors, insinuations, implications and deep meanings. In the hands of a weak director the play can easily become futile, with wooden performances as actors lose their way. Here however, Dannielle Ashton was in full control, guiding her cast through the mire of verbal traps to project the full significance of the script’s black comedy, pathos and tragedy.

In the 1951 film, Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando had the luxury of numerous shots, retakes and multiple breaks; here Jenny McCann had three hours of acting, with what is often recognised as one of the theatre’s most difficult characters to portray, and came away triumphant. Her performance totally captured the complex nature of Blanche’s contradictory temperaments, with her swings in mood and emotion holding the audience spellbound.

The Deep South accent was solid throughout the cast, the short burst of French and Spanish also pronounced with skill. The pace was magnificent, and did not flag for a second. Every actor, from the naive newspaper boy (Tony Minchin) and the old Mexican woman (Kyla Jones) selling flowers for the dead, right to the main characters captured their parts perfectly.

The set (Hywel Williams and Tim Prosser) of this decaying tenement flat was furnished with fittings and furniture of the period, the walls were the old arsenic green paint colour. There was a remarkable, functional upstairs balcony. A secret hinged wall allowed fast and effective scene chances. The costumes (Merri Ford) depicted the social class, the period and the character’s personality. Stella’s flat was cleverly lit with a dozen recessed lamps, perfectly placed and operated. The musical mix of Creole, honky-tonk and authentic streetcar sound effects (Molly Sheehan) rounded off the spectacle.

This community production must be one of the most professional in years, and is as near perfect as one can get. This is a strong cast and offstage team, who have obviously worked tirelessly together. See it if you can. Truly magnificent and worthy of a standing ovation.