A Streetcar Named Desire

Wednesday, 27 April 2022 to Saturday, 7 May 2022
Blanche & Stanley - photo by Michael Errey

The well known classic – A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams should need no introduction.

However, just in case you have been living on a different planet since the first stage play in 1947 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York, (where it closed in 1949 after 855 performances) and the many incarnations that followed, here is basically what it is about------life, death, reality, fantasy, domestic violence, the plight of women, and how our society deals (or doesn’t deal) with these issues.

The plot itself is extremely simple. Blanche DuBois, a former Southern Belle, leaves her privileged background to move into a shabby apartment in New Orleans rented by her younger sister and brother-in-law.
It is not this simple plot, but the excursion into the characters, society and the times in which they lived that makes us squirm. Maybe this is why the play has had such a long life. It is always relevant.

As Otis Reading said in his last recording before his plane crashed - “Look like nothin’s gonna change, everything still remains the same”

What the reviewers have had to say about past versions of this play:-

“..... a fine and deeply disturbing play....a strong, wholly believable play that, starting in a low key, mounts slowly and inexorably to its shocking climax” New Yorker Review by Wolcott Gibbs December 5 , 1947

......a brilliant, implacable play about the disintegration of a woman, or, if you like, of a society..... . It seems so simple on the surface, but it lives in your brain long afterwards, becoming more and more complex as time goes on.”
Rotten Tomatoes – by Dr. Matt Neal – 26th October 2021

“And the famous kindness for which Blanche is so pathetically grateful: that is merely the world’s shrugging indifference or cruelty that Blanche, self-deluding to the last, tries to transmute into compassion.”
The Guardian (UK) review by Peter Bradshaw 7th February 2020.

"Blanche is superbly portrayed by Melanie Munt.......Paul Westbrook plays a convincing Stanley..... Justina Ward shows how Stella's apparent vulnerability is tempered by an instinctive understanding.... Clement's Mitch is perhaps the most sympathetic character of all,"
Julia Wakefield - Weekend Notes
"...the layers of social commentary are many and disturbingly current....As Stan, Paul Westbrook delivers a Brando-esque, physical turn ....Clement deals well with the subtler character of Mitch.., Justina Ward is suitably restrained in the role of Stella...Melanie Munt’s Blanche brings deftness to the role...the gentle jazz of Walter Barbieri on piano adds the ambience of New Orleans"
David Washington - Indaily
Director Michael Baldwin creates stunning compositions with his actors across the full stage (and up the auditorium steps and into the theatre’s foyer), steering his engaged and talented cast through Williams’ grimy dilemmas with deliberate ambiguity: he doesn’t try to signal a correct answer, instead shows us the agony of alternatives – and it works well. It doesn’t need nudging for us to draw pa
Mark Wickett - Stage Whispers

Details

Theatre: 
Pricing: 
Preview:- all tix $33; Season:- Adults $40, Concession $33, Students and Teachers $25.
Duration: 
2 and a half hours including interval
Credits: 

Written by: Tennessee Williams
Directed by: Michael Baldwin
Produced by: Pamela Munt
Featuring: Melanie Munt as Blanche, Paul Westbrook as Stanley, Justina Ward as Stella, Marc Clement as Mitch, Susan Cilento as Eustice/Mexican Woman, Nathan Brown as Steve, Matthew Adams as "young man". With cameos from Peter Green as the Doctor, and Pamela Munt as the Nurse.
Pianists:- Walter Barbieri (week 1), Brendan Fitzgerald (week 2)
Sound and lighting: Stephen Dean
Stage manager: Andrew Zeuner
Design: The Production Team
Set building: Andrew Zeuner, David Dyte
Photography: Michael Errey
Front of House Manager: Eleanor Adams

Preview(s): 
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 - 7:30pm
Opening night: 
Thursday, 28 April 2022 - 7:30pm
Season: 
Friday, 29 April 2022 - 7:30pm
Saturday, 30 April 2022 - 7:30pm
Wednesday, 4 May 2022 - 7:30pm
Thursday, 5 May 2022 - 7:30pm
Friday, 6 May 2022 - 7:30pm
Saturday, 7 May 2022 - 7:30pm

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South Australia 5000
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Tel: (08) 8227 0505
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