A Streetcar Named Desire - Donmar 2009

Genre: Drama
Opened 28 July 2009
Written: by Tennessee Williams
Directed: Rob Ashford
Cast: Rachel Weisz (Blanche DuBois), Elliot Cowan (Stanley)
Synopsis: Fading southern belle Blanche DuBois unexpectedly appears at her sister's home in the stifling world of downtown New Orleans. With delusions of grandeur, Blanche stands in stark contrast to her new surroundings and her brother-in-law Stanley. His determination to reveal her secrets lead her to withdraw ever further away from reality, into a world of illusions.

What the popular press had to say.....
HENRY HITCHING'S for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Smartly conceived revival...At its heart is Rachel Weisz, whose performance as Blanche DuBois...proves mesmerizing." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "One ends up marvelling again at Williams's play, with its delicate verbal echoes as Blanche's confession of her 'intimacies with strangers' anticipates her famous last line, but I emerged impressed without quite being overwhelmed." MICHAEL COVENEY for THE INDEPENDENT says, "This isn't a great Streetcar, and its qualities lie not so much in performance as in the revelation of a still ground-breaking dramatic, almost filmic, deliquescent structure and poetry." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "The contrast between Weisz's refined and mannered gentility, and Cowan's coarse, destructive physicality creates a simmering tension that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout...this is, by some distance, the best Streetcar I have ever seen." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "Both Glenn Close and Jessica Lange recently played the role in London, but neither had the charisma of [Rachel] Weisz. Does she underplay Blanche's preciosity and squeamish affectations? Maybe; but she has the intelligence, the wry humour, the yearning for love and the capacity to express it."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
Daily Telegraph
The Independent
The Times

Production photo by Johan Persson