Gregson Centre, Lancaster
Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 and 9 June 2004

reviewed by Michael Nunn

This is a passionate and disturbing play about the return of teacher Blanche Dubois to her sister Stella and brother in law Stan's home in the American Deep South in the 1940s. The impact that this unstable and objectionable woman has on her demure sister and her forthright husband's life is skilfully and vividly described, as pressure is brought to bear on the relationships between the major as well as the minor protagonists.

No-one seems to escape. Stella and Stan's personal and social lives are slowly destabilised, and Stan's occasional and disrupted poker parties precipitate changes in the increasingly miserable and cramped ménage in the tiny two-room apartment. The most serious and brutal ‘domestics' often spill out beyond the household and involve the neighbours and, as Stella's pregnancy progresses, the couple next door also become ensnared in the devastating imbroglios caused by Blanche.

The Blanche creature, still somehow retaining her feminine charms, is revealed as no longer a teacher and not what she has said she is. She has also managed to emotionally manipulate and ensnare one of Stan's poker mates, and the tensions eventually spiral out of control until the bull is firmly taken by the horns and the unfortunate Blanche is finally and forcibly removed from the scene of the conflicts she has caused.

John and I wondered afterwards whether most of us know characters like Blanche, whose sole function in their fantasy-driven lives seems to be to upset and disturb everyone they meet. Calling to mind one or two people we have known, it seemed to us that most people have met or have known someone like this. Perhaps it is one of those unfortunate but inevitable ingredients of life that are just sent to try us.

Pulitzer laureate playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) has created an evocative and compelling study of domestic relationships, and Streetcar was an innovative piece for the 1940s. It predated the ‘reality theatre' of Wesker, Osborn and the so-called ‘kitchen sink' drama of the 1950s, and received its first London production in 1949, directed by one Lawrence Olivier and starring Vivien Leigh in the role of the femme fatale.

The fine dialogue is resolutely non-PC, with a joke involving a "nigger' feeding his poultry, and branding the Polish as "just like the Irish except not so highbrow.' In our times, prejudices such as these and those found in abundance in Shakespeare may weigh uncomfortably on some, whilst others are still able to laugh at them.

It sounds a challenging package for a student group to tackle, but that sort of thing does not faze Lancaster University Theatre Group (LUTG). As usual, they rose well to those challenges, and treated audiences to a riveting and intense evening of theatre at its grittiest. Characterisation was utterly convincing, and Jacqui Speakman, Tierney Woods and Dan Serridge (Blanche, Stella and Stan respectively) merit especial praise for their sustained and intelligent portrayals of the three main characters.

The less-than-spacious set which, like the intimate setting of The Gregson's hall, provided an almost stifling closeness that added to the intensity of the performances. Jim Bowman's fine direction and hard-working, articulate cast delivered a performance of raw intensity and almost physical discomfort.

It is a shame that there were only two performances of such a powerful evening's drama.

Copyright © 10 June 2004 Michael Nunn

Postscript:
I gather it is decided that next term's three main productions are to be Accidental Death of an Anarchist, by Dario Fo, and a double-bill (on the model of last December's Habeas Corpus and Romeo & Juliet on one evening) of Ben Elton's Popcorn and Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters. Sounds fun …