Artists Repertory Theatre’s decision to set A Streetcar Named
Desire in a mental hospital sounds gimmicky—like a beatnik
version of Hamlet, or My Fair Lady as performed by
clowns.
The show is staged as a flashback experienced by an
institutionalized Blanche DuBois. For the first half of the play, this
does indeed feel like a gimmick, and one that hardly justifies itself.
A doctor sits in a chair in front of the stage, observing the action;
instead of the squalor in which we expect to find Stella and Stanley,
the set is grim and institutional. Otherwise, business unfolds as usual
between Stella, her husband Stanley, and her unstable, high-strung
sister, Blanche. Director Jon Kretzu didn’t change a word of Tennessee
Williams’ script, and the vitality that all three principles lend to
their characters gives no hint that they are mere shadows of Blanche’s
memory.
There are some really fantastic performances here, notably the
towering Andrea Frankle as Blanche, selfish and vulnerable. Val Landrum
brings a pragmatic likeability to Stella, while Mic Matarrese’s Stanley
seethes and struts with enough conviction that I eventually forgave him
not looking like Marlon Brando.
Though the lighting occasionally cuts to a washed-out institutional
glare, fortunately we are spared the drab attire of the mental ward.
Ashley Wase’s costumes are gorgeous, and Frankle’s Blanche sways and
drops in her dresses like a flower slowly losing its bloom.
In addition to the asylum setting, Kretzu has the ghost of Blanche’s
dead husband appearing whenever she reminisces about him. The idea of
Blanche flashing back to her own hallucinations is confusing—but
it’s to Kretzu’s credit that, as with the setting, what looks like a
gimmick turns out to be a well-considered risk.
There are quibbles: Blanche’s breakdown scene is overwrought
(tattered party dress, disco ball); the first act is looooong; and the
flashback conceit breaks down entirely at moments when Blanche isn’t
onstage. All things considered, though, you’re unlikely to see a better
version of A Streetcar Named Desire that the one playing at
Artists Rep right now. Even if not all of Kretzu’s risks pay off, at
least he’s taking them.