A STREETCAR NAME DESIRE. By Tennessee Williams. Presented by LAMTA. Directed by Chris Weare. Designed by Niall Griffin. Starring Emily Child and LAMTA students. Theatre on the Bay.
MEGAN CHORITZ reviews
LAMTA’s production of the timeless classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, is beautiful. It is a gorgeously designed, brilliantly directed, and superbly performed piece, that honours and pays homage to the play, its themes, ideas, and messaging. And it is hauntingly relevant to today.
The complex and harrowing story of the sisters Blanche and Stella, Stella’s husband Stanley, and their friends and neighbours in a down and out, working class neighbourhood of New Orleans has been given detailed, and precise articulation here, and it is a story very well told.
Emily Child is quite simply Blanche DuBois. She is mesmerising, funny, whimsical, bitchy, narcissistic and a broken bird. Her performance is sensitive, accurate, mercurial, and quite amazing, and her experience as a team player rises to the fore here as she gives generously to her cast of student players without ever overshadowing them, even with a character who is so much larger than life. She is breath taking. And her timing! Divinely inspired.
The students’ performances are generally superb, with a standout performance by Sarah Wolhuter as Stella. Sarah captures the emotional depth of Stella quite profoundly and it is a real surprise that a young student is capable of such a mature, sensual, complex performance. Dylan Janse van Rensberg certainly looks the part of Stanley Kowalski but he has the great challenge of playing this combination of man boy, toxic masculine, drunk, working class, sexist, sexy, abuser. It is a lot.
Amazing showcase of brilliant talent
Nuggets of delight were the musical interludes, sung with such charm and style by Sasha Duffy.
Niall Griffin’s set is gorgeous. It is a living, breathing character of the play, and the cast bring it to life and in turn are brought to life by it. Niall also designed the beautiful costumes and props.
But, as I walked away from the theatre, I wondered about whether the play was a good choice for the students. I think they did an amazing job, but I think they are too young. Too young for the responsibility of this story that should be utterly devastating but wasn’t because there was no way they could access the deep pool of complex Tennessee Williams’ emotional, psychological messiness.
I enjoyed the production immensely. And it is an amazing showcase of brilliant talent and the discipline of the training at LAMTA. But the rawness and brutality of the story and the characters caught in its web was not entirely achieved.
What: A Streetcar Named Desire
Where and when: Theatre on the Bay from 14 to 24 August 2024
Tickets: Webtickets and the Theatre on the Bay’s box office at 021 438 3300
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