Streetcar Named Desire at BAM
The Williams' Language Falls Flat
By: Susan Hall - Apr 09, 2025
The Brooklyn Academy of Music recently presented A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall and featuring a set by Madeleine Girling, this production, which was a smash hit in London, also made a strong impression at BAM. Originally produced on Broadway in 1947, the play is set in post-World War II New Orleans.
Girling’s set suggests a timelessness with a raised platform representing the Kowalskis' two-room apartment in the Elysian Fields housing complex. The passing characters who sit on the platform steps and occasionally move about it seem rooted in the New Orleans of the past. The drumbeats in the music also evoke a sense of the city’s history.
As for the lead character, the inimitable and universally recognized Blanche DuBois, Patsy Ferran takes the role to a new level. Her Blanche is tough, fierce, and maintains a hard exterior. The only hint of vulnerability comes through her constantly gesturing hands, perhaps representing a deeper nervousness or anxiety.
Blanche is a role that actors dream of playing. Jessica Tandy originated the role on Broadway, followed by Vivien Leigh’s iconic portrayal in the film. Jessica Lange’s performance was magnificent, and Cate Blanchett played the role in 2009 at BAM, later reprising her Blanche in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. Allen himself took on a reimagined interpretation of the character. Like Hamlet, the role has attracted performers of all sexes.
For Williams, "Women are the mirror of all things. They see and they reflect..."
Blanche is a fluttering, flirting Southern belle, who eventually descends into madness. Some actors have played her as mentally ill, while others suggest that her madness was caused by circumstance. There are also interpretations that she may not be mad at all. Traditionally, Blanche’s femininity was clear and unquestioned. Ferran, however, plays her as a more hardened woman—like a female financial executive, shaped by the male-dominated world around her.
Is this a reflection of the world in which women find themselves today?
It might not reflect the majority of women. Only women in the financia world have to cast themselves as hard. Women today are seen in dresses like those of Zimmerman, Alice & Olivia, and Ralph Lauren—soft, flowing dresses that appeal to their femininity. The foreplay of heterosexual interaction often revolves around tease, suggestion, and perhaps a playful dare.
Stanley, played by Paul Mescal (who carries a "hunk" aura), lacks the vocabulary to articulate his emotions. His favorite word, "Stella," he famously repeats, referring to his wife and Blanche’s sister. Like Mike Tyson, who lacked a strong vocabulary and often resorted to physical confrontation, Stanley uses his body and strength to avenge perceived slights. While there are historical examples like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, who used their power to abuse women, most men today do not express their frustrations through violence.
Language is central to the play, and Williams’ script is both lyrical and evocative. The contrast between Stanley’s brute force, devoid of words, and Blanche’s eloquence is what makes the play so compelling. Unfortunately, that aspect is missing in Frecknall’s take.
What, then, is the portrait that Frecknall and her actors have created? Stanley is a brute, but his sexual appeal is absent. The attraction of the sisters to a Marlon Brando, for example, is clear enough to overlook his crudeness.
The lyrical language of Williams seems to have vanished in this production. Perhaps our time spent on devices has dulled our sensitivity to tone. The wonderful drumbeats and music by Angus Macrae can’t compensate for the loss of Williams' magical and moving language.
Our Blanche DuBois may not be present in this production, but we are certain she will return.