A Streetcar Named Desire - Almeida / Phoenix

[crowblack]

Jan 25, 2023 1:02:42 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Jan 25, 2023 0:31:44 GMT Jon said:

Six weeks isn't that long really for it to recoup the transfer costs.

It won’t cost much to transfer this show. It’s a floor.

Assuming it will be Mescals film career keeping them from a longer transfer.

Yes, Ridley Scott is delaying Gladiator 2 for it. He lost Jodie Comer from a movie project when Covid delays pushed filming dates into Prima Facie. 

[ThereWillBeSun]

Seeing Streetcar tonight but I don't regret seeing it in the original setting. I've only ever watched the Young Vic recorded version (Gillian Anderson) and have always wanted to see the 'live' version. Very excited!

[ThereWillBeSun]

Jan 25, 2023 15:08:43 GMT ThereWillBeSun said:

Seeing Streetcar tonight but I don't regret seeing it in the original setting. I've only ever watched the Young Vic recorded version (Gillian Anderson) and have always wanted to see the 'live' version. Very excited!

Patsy Ferran is just absolutely incredible, isn’t she?!
No weak link in that cast. I really enjoyed tonight. The audience were gripped throughout. 5/5 for me.

[theatrefan77]

I still think she's miscast in this. Her acting is great but looks far too young to play a woman who's passed her prime and her beauty is fading.

I'll still see it again in the West End.

[ThereWillBeSun]

Jan 26, 2023 17:01:53 GMT theatrefan77 said:

I still think she's miscast in this. Her acting is great but looks far too young to play a woman who's passed her prime and her beauty is fading.

I'll still see it again in the West End.

I have to admit; I was very unsure. However her youthfulness worked for me as she came across so neurotic - and maybe it also helped that the cast were young too? But I completely understand what you mean.

[adolphus]

Jessica Tandy and Vivien Leigh were both in their 30s when they put Blanche on the landscape. Blanche is not supposed to be greatly older than Stella or Stanley. Alcoholism, depression and stress take their toll on anyone, and its not so long ago even here that unmarried women over 30 were considered old maids.

I simply don't understand the criticisms about Ferran's age damaging her performance

[matty]

Saw this tonight and I'm so glad I got to see it at The Almeida, the intimacy of the space worked so well. Patsy Feran was incredible. Was a bit unsure about Paul Mescal in the first half, but he truly came into his own in Act 2.

Was a bit confused about timings though,said it was 2 hours 45 minutes, but we started 15 minutes late tonight and got to the interval after 1 hour 20, Instead of 1 hour 30.

[londonpostie]

It's interesting to read this thread because I'm just not sure Blanche is a beauty. Good-looking, though nothing like the emphasis offered by the first production on Broadway and later Hollywood. In turn, the idea travelled more widely including, latterly, to the Young Vic. The whole Southern belle thing, perhaps.

I can't see it in the text.

Wikipedia goes with the flow - depictions (above) - but CliffNotes seems to pay more attention to the script:

Blanche DuBois appears in the first scene dressed in white, the symbol of purity and innocence. She is seen as a moth-like creature. She is delicate, refined, and sensitive. She is cultured and intelligent. She can't stand a vulgar remark or a vulgar action. She would never willingly hurt someone. She doesn't want realism; she prefers magic. She doesn't always tell the truth, but she tells "what ought to be truth." Yet she has lived a life that would make the most degenerate person seem timid. She is, in general, one of Williams' characters who do not belong in this world. And her type will always be at the mercy of the brutal, realistic world.

No mention there of her 'aging beauty'. Perhaps some productions have inferred it from her behaviour (example: shading herself from hard light). Others might see that as vanity, or insecurity, etc. Of course, every 'leading lady' in theatre and film would want to play the part and those women tend to be beauties, and get what they want.

Beautiful people sell seats, in theatres and cinemas.

I'm just mooting the idea what we are seeing in this production is Rebecca Frecknall pulling it back more to Williams' original intentions for the character of Blanche.

[Latecomer]

Still a bit sad not to be seeing this at the Almeida (much prefer to larger venues). No sign of any tickets on line and can’t really travel from Oxford “just in case” for returns….box office were quite unhelpful (I had tickets but had to return due to train strike). Even the fact that I also missed out on Tammy Faye as had tickets for last day that were cancelled, so missed that, didn’t soften their hearts! I understand, it’s a small venue, but as a regular and loyal customer for over 10 years it’s a shame…..also people who queue on the day do deserve returns, so I’m not really moaning, but oh to be round the corner so I could go and queue up ……will just have to lump it!
Perhaps I’ll just read the play again and imagine Patsy Ferran in the part!

[andbingowashisname]

Jan 28, 2023 10:09:14 GMT londonpostie said:

I'm just mooting the idea what we are seeing in this production is Rebecca Frecknall pulling it back more to Williams' original intentions for the character of Blanche. 

Not sure it's actually got that much to do with Rebecca Frecknall; she imagined the production with Lydia Wilson in mind, and Wilson is five years older than Ferran and more in keeping with the established image of Blanche DuBois. With Wilson no longer able to continue with the production it was about to be a case of kick-bollocks-scramble to find a new Blanche, but fortunately for everyone at the Almeida the immediate Hail Mary pass was quickly caught by the incredibly safe hands of Patsy Ferran.

Having now seen the production I think that Ferran is beyond brilliant, and it is her performance that elevates the production from being very good to being unmissable. She shattered my previous understanding of the play and of the part, and made me feel like I was watching something that was unfolding before my eyes in a way that I hadn't expected. What incredibly rare magic that is; forget about safe hands, she has the hands of a sorceress!

The other cast members do fine work, particularly Dwane Walcott who gives a beautifully focused and understated performance as Mitch, and the shape and feel of the production are largely well-realised, but the performance that Patsy Ferran gives feels like it is in union with the play and the playwright in a way that a director just cannot extract. It's either there or it isn't, and like with Summer and Smoke it just feels like Patsy Ferran is somehow directly communing with the spirit and sensibilities of Tennessee Williams.

Incidentally, whisperings from the rehearsal room intimated that Lydia Wilson was going to prove to be an extremely excellent Blanche until she her injury deprived her and us from being able to experience it. Hopefully her recovery will be swift and we will see her being excellent again very soon indeed.

[londonpostie]

To say it in a different way; if I were Rebecca Frecknall trying to sell Blanche to a potentially sceptical Patsy Ferran, I would quote the above passage (from CliffNotes) or something very similar*

* given the production sold out in 20-ish hours, almost everyone posting here is aware of the original casting and change

[andbingowashisname]

Jan 28, 2023 19:34:18 GMT londonpostie said:

To say it in a different way; if I were Rebecca Frecknall trying to sell Blanche to a potentially sceptical Patsy Ferran, I would quote the above passage (from CliffNotes) or something very similar*

* given the production sold out in 20-ish hours, almost everyone posting here is aware of the original casting and change

Not entirely sure that directors at the top of their game like Rebecca Frecknall are likely to rely on Cliff Notes to make their points or delineate their approach to the text, but it's a fun image.

As for the casting change, I suspect that most people on here are fully aware of it but your post seemed to suggest that you had (even if only temporarily) completely forgotten it. Your post suggested that the casting of Ferran was some brilliant insight by design from Frecknall and I was pointing out that it was more of a happy accident by dint of the fact that Ferran only became part of the production at the 11th hour. But maybe you need the Cliff Notes for my earlier post...

[circelily]

Well I tried the queue on three different occasions in the past month and failed all three times. Timing just not on my side as I have slim advance knowledge of when I'll be in London but a powerful indicator of the level of this production's popularity. I've been ridiculously lucky over the year so it has to balance out somewhere. And even this time, I got to visit my favourite restaurant post-Covid, stumble upon a bashful-seeming Paul Mescal swamped by autograph hunters just after a matinée, and see Jessie Buckley chatting with friends including Rebecca in the bar.

[crowblack]

Jan 29, 2023 9:07:06 GMT circelily said:

Well I tried the queue on three different occasions in the past month and failed all three times. Timing just not on my side as I have slim advance knowledge of when I'll be in London but a powerful indicator of the level of this production's popularity. I've been ridiculously lucky over the year so it has to balance out somewhere. And even this time, I got to visit my favourite restaurant post-Covid, stumble upon a bashful-seeming Paul Mescal swamped by autograph hunters just after a matinée, and see Jessie Buckley chatting with friends including Rebecca in the bar.

I don't know what the safe modern equivalent is, but in the old Firefox days you could set it to regularly scan and ping whenever a specified web page was updated, which was very handy for returns popping up. 

[hadeswasking]

ATG priority for the Phoenix run is open! Got my ticket to see what the fuss is about.

[alessia]

I looked at the prices just now and feeling glad I've seen it for £25.

[ellesbelles]

Managed to get a rear Dress Circle seat through the presale link. Feels a bit spends bit spendy, (£67.50 plus fees) but happy to have it booked. If I remember the rake at the Phoenix is pretty good.

[mkb]

Seem to be several rows at the front of the stall not yet on sale. In fact the seats available via Almeida's link are quite limited. If you go to "green" days later in the run, it's the same ones available.

[vickyg]

My queue via the Almeida link seems to have crashed at 32 people ahead of me. How frustrating.

[rmars]

Both my queues at ATG and the Almeida have crashed, I feel like I am trying to buy tickets to a Taylor Swift show

[dannimaria]

Managed to nab a Thursday matinee ticket for April. I have a ticket for Saturday's last matinee at The Almeida, stalls F11 (restricted view) but can no longer go. I paid 25 quid for it if anyone wants it.

[sondheimhats]

Can anyone indicate what the absolute cheapest price point is for the transfer, and where in the theatre those seats are located?

[fiyero]

Jan 31, 2023 14:50:29 GMT sondheimhats said:

Can anyone indicate what the absolute cheapest price point is for the transfer, and where in the theatre those seats are located?

Not sure if it is on all dates but I saw £15 for back few rows of the upper circle.

[Latecomer]

Jan 31, 2023 14:21:05 GMT dannimaria said:

Managed to nab a Thursday matinee ticket for April. I have a ticket for Saturday's last matinee at The Almeida, stalls F11 (restricted view) but can no longer go. I paid 25 quid for it if anyone wants it.

Yes please! 

[Latecomer]

Jan 31, 2023 15:50:07 GMT Latecomer said:

Jan 31, 2023 14:21:05 GMT dannimaria said:

Managed to nab a Thursday matinee ticket for April. I have a ticket for Saturday's last matinee at The Almeida, stalls F11 (restricted view) but can no longer go. I paid 25 quid for it if anyone wants it.

Yes please! 

Have messaged you dannimaria!