Review Roundup: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at the Almeida Theatre
Rebecca Frecknall directs Paul Mescal in his London stage debut
After a much-delayed press night when Patsy Ferran stepped in as Blanche DuBois with a few days' notice to replace Lydia Wilson, Rebecca Frecknall's new version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire has finally opened at London's Almeida Theatre.
Ferran is joined by Anjana Vasan and Normal People's Paul Mescal, who makes his stage debut in this tumultuous and intense production.
So what did the critics think?
Cindy Marcolina: BroadwayWorld: Frecknall delivers a seductive, intense revival that offers a stripped-down forensic look at violence, masculinity, and how we relate to mental health. A sublime, award-worthy powerhouse of a performance from Ferran lies at the heart of it, turning into another career-defining role for the actress. She is fragile and tough, desperate and hopeful, comical and heartbreaking as she coquettishly paces the space.
Dominic Maxwell: The Times: Yet it's the way the production as a whole blends dreamlike intimacy and imaginative realism that makes this much-revived 1947 masterpiece feel like it was written last Tuesday. Rebecca Frecknall had a hit here in 2018 with a first-rate rejig of a second-string Williams, Summer and Smoke (also starring Ferran). Now, in her first production since directing Cabaret in the West End, she once again manages to clear away the clag of the story while introducing a new sense of mystery. Not an ounce of "great theatre" stiffness here: this is raw, poetic, painful and plausible. Funny, too.
Arifa Akbar: The Guardian: It is strongest in its use of sound (designed by Peter Rice) and music (composed by Angus MacRae). Mescal's sudden shouts land like punches and some words turn into animal yelps. Lines from songs repeat and echo, as if Blanche is trapped in a hallucinatory loop. Most of all, drums beat and thrum while cymbals crash, creating their own aural violence (both the singer Gabriela García and drummer Tom Penn are excellent).
Nick Curtis: Evening Standard: Tennessee Williams doesn't do happy endings but this production represents a triumph over disaster. Frecknall proves herself again to be a director of great vision and invention. And the performance that Ferran has pulled out of a hat, and the way she's seamlessly integrated it with those of her impressive co-stars, is frankly astonishing.
Sam Marlowe: The Stage: With the freshness of approach that has become her directorial hallmark, Frecknall, along with designer Madeleine Girling, strips away most of the physical trappings, and all of the clichés, of the New Orleans tenement where Stella and Stanley share two cramped rooms. Instead, Frecknall takes us inside the tormented head of Stella's sister Blanche, as she arrives seeking sanctuary from a past drenched in tragedy, pain and shame.
A Streetcar Named Desire runs at the Almeida Theatre until 4 February.
Photo Credit: Marc Brenner
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