2009 Reviews

A Streetcar Named Desire, review by Stella Taylor, Swindon Advertiser, March 2009

Michaela Kearns’ remarkable tour de force, as Blanche, a faded Southern belle, dominated Rosemary Crayford’s production of Tennessee Williams’ 1940’s play A Streetcar Named Desire, set in New Orleans.

The Clarendon Players, who attracted large audiences at the Memorial Hall, Wootton Bassett, last week, faced a considerable challenge in tackling this demanding drama.

Charlotte Pracy, as Stella, Blanche’s gentle, diligent, pregnant sister, was well partnered by Alec Smith as Stanley Kowalski, a boorish character prone to rapid mood changes. The Kowalskis reluctantly accommodated Blanche, who arrived unexpectedly with delusions of grandeur and nostalgia at the family’s loss of their mansion on a Southern plantation. Blanche’s apparent nervous exhaustion and her desire to be pampered and waited on, infuriated the volatile Stanley, who questioned the reasons for her visit.

As Blanche cultivated a promising friendship with Mitch, a lonely man with an ailing mother, Stanley pursued his quest for unsavoury details of Blanche’s past. Lloyd Morgan was excellent as Mitch, a suitor whose dreams were dashed by Stanley’s revelations and Blanche’s psychiatric decline.

Jane Wade and Mark Richardson played the Kowalski’s neighbours from the upper storey of the cramped apartment house. Declan McDonald, Sally Hopkins and Rachel Sellens completed a competent cast.