one4review | On 07, Nov 2024

Powerful stuff with top notch performances.

The Royal Lyceum Theatre have brought the Pitlochry Festival Theatre production of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire to Edinburgh with much aplomb and a lot to live up to.
The play, set in post-WW2 New Orleans, follows the turbulent interactions between the aging fading orchid Blanche DuBois and her younger sister Stella’s domineering husband, Stanley Kowalski.
As the play progresses Stanley sees huge holes in Blanche’s lies and cruelly exploits her fragility and dignity get rid of her. Blanche, haunted by her troubled past slowly unravels under Stanley’s relentless raw, primal aggression.

This production is powerful stuff and confronts the audience with the tragedy of human expectation and exploitation, given the state of the world currently, probably more relevant now than when it was written.

Emily James and her team deliver one of the finest set designs the Lyceum has seen in recent years. The central revolving round stage, cleverly resembling a record when viewed from above, features a spiral staircase at its center. The scratchy jazz soundtrack that plays intermittently heightens the atmosphere, allowing the performers to subtly embody the needle moving across the record as they act.

The performances are top notch. Kirsty Stuart’s portrayal of Blanche DuBois stands shoulder to shoulder with anyone before her on stage, Nalini Chetty as Stanley’s submissive wife, torn between her love for her abusive husband and her loyalty to her sister, is portrayed with remarkable subtlety and sensitivity.
Matthew Trevannion faces a particularly challenging task as Stanley Kowalski, a role so often parodied. Yet, after a moment of adjustment, Trevannion makes the character his own, evolving from simmering passive aggression to a full-force, primal force of nature in the second half.

Well worth grabbing a ticket for.
****
Reviewed by Steve H
The Royal Lyceum Theatre