A Streetcar Named Desire, Chesil Theatre, Winchester THERE may have been times in the history of Tennessee Williams’ powerful drama when its heroine, Blanche DuBois (Connie Cha, nervy, ever-smiling and formidable in her Chesil début) could have been dismissed as a vain, neurotic sponger and flirt.
But, with horrible accounts of the rejection of attempts by much younger women and girls to gain attention and redress for their abuse such a regular feature of our news, this character’s vulnerability and this play take on a new significance.
In these circumstances it can’t be easy to invest her brother-in-law and nemesis, Stanley Kowalski (Lee Ruttle) with much charm, but his irritation at Blanche’s intrusion is made clear, and Charlotte Gatherer’s Stella (another Chesil début) makes her amorous affection for her husband convincing. Martin Humphrey also impresses as Stanley’s more vulnerable friend Mitch.
Director Deborah Edgington makes good use of Tony Rogers’ sound to suggest Blanche’s mental decline.
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