Theatre / A Streetcar Named Desire
Preview: A Streetcar Named Desire, Bristol Old Vic
English Touring Theatre’s bold new revival of Tennessee Williams’ timeless masterpiece is a fiery portrayal of what it means to be an outsider, in a society where we’re all desperate to belong.
Stanley Kowalski is no exception. Until one summer, when his sister-in-law Blanche comes to stay. Anxious, seductive and fiercely clever, Blanche is just about keeping it together. But her arrival threatens his entire way of life.
As the temperature soars and passions intensify, a burning desire threatens to tear their world apart.
is needed now More than ever
The production is directed by rising star Chelsea Walker. More from her below.
How did you come to direct the production?
I was lucky enough to win the Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award, which gave me the opportunity to direct a tour of a classic play, co-produced by Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Theatr Clwyd and English Touring Theatre (ETT).
All pics: The Other Richard
And what made you want to direct A Streetcar Named Desire in particular?
I’ve not directed a ‘classic’ play before, but Streetcar feels alive and kicking and young and muscular. It speaks to me because of the way it explores toxic masculinity and the pressures we place on women. Williams uses it to rage against a community’s complicity in a stream of violence against women, and that couldn’t be more relevant to the conversations we’re having this year. It’s rare to find a play that feels so completely contemporary and emotionally epic at the same time.
How will you put your own stamp on such a well-known play?
We’ve set our Streetcar in a contemporary New Orleans, so we could explore just how it speaks to us now. I’ve also cast it to the characters’ ages in the script (they’re often cast older) which hopefully means an audience will be viewing some of those characters in a new light.
For me, Streetcar is Blanche’s story – and Williams takes us right inside Blanche’s head. I’ve always been interested in how we can help an audience to access her as a character, and to understand the journey that she’s on. The play treads a line between realism and expressionism, and I’ve pushed the expressionism to help the audience stay with Blanche.
You’ve just come from directing Yous Two at the Hampstead Theatre. How was that?
Wildly different. That was a brand new naturalistic play all set in one room, in a very intimate studio theatre. It was a great experience, but one that required a very different set of directing skills.
Why is touring theatre important to you?
I come from Gloucestershire and grew up going to see regional theatre and the occasional play in London. NT Live screenings sell out in my home town because the audience want to see bold, exciting work. Myself and the ETT team are passionate about touring groundbreaking work and making sure we’re in dialogue with audiences around the country, not just the London bubble.
It’s important to me to make theatre that attracts new audiences – we have to appeal to the Netflix generation, and excite them with theatre’s liveness. I hope Streetcar shows a young audience that the classic texts don’t have to be approached with a dusty reverence or a company made up of old, white men.
What do you want audiences to take away from the production?
I hope Streetcar will spark debate about the world we live in now, and particularly about the way we treat people whom we consider ‘outsiders’.
A Streetcar Named Desire is at Bristol Old Vic from Tuesday, April 17 to Saturday, April 21. For more info and to book tickets, visit bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/a-streetcar-named-desire
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