STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

WINNER: NODA Best Regional Drama 2008

The streetcar is the legend that is 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. Tennessee William's famous play which is 62 years old the autumn (2009). This Pulitzer Prize winning classic is crammed with passion and tension that builds from the first few moments of this iconic drama.

Gallery

Cast and Creative Team

Blanche DuBois | Sandy Lane
Stella Kowalski | Sheridan Lowe
Stanley Kowalski | Tom Halton
Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell | Paul Wilson
Steve Hubbel | Phil Simcox
Eunice Hubbel | Jane Bailey
Pable / Tamale Vender | Jason Parker
Martha / Prostitute | Becky Sandy
Young Collector / Sailor | Adam Daniels
Doctor | Keith Butcher
Nurse / Flower Seller | Marie Stone

Director | Barry Taylor
Designer | Jon Crofts
Lighting | Geoff Harcula
Promotion | Phil Simcox
Stage Manager | Becky Sandy
Playwright | Tennessee Williams

Reviews

"...yet another success for the Fourblokes Theatre Company..."

Streetcar Named Desire

There may have been gales blowing across Derby’s Market Place, but inside the Guildhall Theatre the assembled audience were most definitely transported to the hot and steamy deep south of America in the late 1940s.

This is a classic play that needs careful guidance and once again the Fourblokes company have managed to expand their numbers with some fine performers and performances.

Having ‘lost’ her family estate, the affected, genteel but past-her- prime Blanche Dubois (Sandy Lane) arrives on the New Orleans doorstep of her younger sister Stella (Sheridan Lowe) who, much to Blanche’s astonishment, is now slumming it in a two-room hovel with her son-of-a-Polish-immigrant husband Stanley (Tom Halton).

Streetcar, over its wordy running time, is the story of the battle for the heart and mind of the regularly abused Stella, with the mentally and emotionally unstable Blanche ultimately paying the price.

The company here have managed to create a claustrophobic set that literally pours into the audience, we well believe that the humid heat is unbearable and marital disputes are commonplace for all to hear.
Characters change on a dime and when violence surfaces its ripples are felt throughout the story.

It’s during the second act that Tennessee Williams words really come to life with music, lighting and effects combining to make the action almost too real; although director Barry Taylor looks to have underplayed a major rape scene that is the tipping point for Blanche’s demise.

Mark Streetcar down as yet another success for the Fourblokes company, once again showing that they aren’t afraid to tackle the controversial as well as the classic and surprise the Derby audiences.

Andy Potter | Thurs 19th November 2009

Desire to stage a classic

Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following the Second World War, it tells the story of Blanche DuBois, a neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for some place in the world to call her own.

Derby’s Fourblokes Productions bring it to the Guildhall this week.

TENNESSEE Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most critically-acclaimed plays of the 20th century.

A true classic, it has made its way to the big screen, television, the ballet and even the operatic stage, but is at its very best in its purest form, as a stage play.

After being exiled from her hometown for seducing a 17- year-old boy at the school whereshe taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on her sister’s doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve.

Her sister’s suspicious husband, Stanley, points out that “under Louisiana’s Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband” and demands to see the bill
of sale.

Like much of Williams’ works, Streetcar is a memory play. Ghosts from his personal life rise out of New Orleans and are evident in the tale.

It is perhaps Williams’ most famous work, due in no small part to Elia Kazan’s acclaimed 1951 movie version starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh.

Now, Barry Taylor, Fourblokes Productions’ artistic director, tries his hand at this stage classic.

Fourblokes was created in 2005 when founding members Barry, Phil Simcox, Kim Harris and Paul Wilson spotted a niche for professionally-produced shows for smaller casts.

All four had many years of stage experience with amateur drama and musical societies but jointly decided the time was ripe to create something a little bit different.

The group has won regional drama awards for Bouncers in 2006 and for Blue Remembered Hills in 2007.

Derby Telegraph | Fri 13th November 2009