See it if you want to see a modernistic superlative production of the classic.
Don't see it if well, i can't see any reason not to see this epic production. don't go if you don't like theatre. :)
See it if u want a captivating & claustrophobic update on classic. Having the leads rarely exit the stage ratchets up the domestic tension. Sweltering
Don't see it if u want sexy-ice-queen Gillian of "Hannibal"/"The Fall." G radiates as much heat as the New Orleans streets & is as unhinged as the shutters.
See it if Capable and superb cast from top to bottom; the production all high school students would want to see for the clarity of presentation
Don't see it if 3 hour 20 minutes is an epic amount of time even for a classic; many scene changes include obnoxiously blaring music which is insulting
See it if You like a fresh take on a classic. I was glued to my seat for 3+ hours.
Don't see it if You will have trouble with the revolving set with the audience on all sides. Too often I couldn't see the actors' faces.
See it if It's a given: STREETCAR is a great play. And this is a riveting production w/ a harrowing perf. by Gillian Anderson as Blanche. Thrilling!
Don't see it if Modern, all white rectangle set which constantly revolves. But it all works!
See it if You want to see a well produced and directed production of a classic American drama with a stellar performance by Gillian Anderson.
Don't see it if You're expecting a vintage revival or can't concentrate on listening & observing the actors for this 3 hour production.
See it if you like intense drama with great acting with innovative stage design.
Don't see it if don't like short plays, this is 3.5 hours.
See it if You like classic theater reimagined and made newly relevant by a great cast.
Don't see it if You do not like directorial visions infused on a classic text.
"Two trajectories determine 'A Streetcar Named Desire': the tragic arc of Gillian Anderson’s remarkably vivid Blanche, and that of the near-permanently revolving set...You sense the two are somewhat at war...What’s missing is centripetal energy, the inward force that would focus audiences on dramatic details. A great production makes audiences feel complicit; here, we’re merely impressed voyeurs."
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"'A Streetcar Named Desire' remains an American classic, and Andrews rightly approaches it with gravitas and grit. But in a world where feminism, gay rights and post-modern parodies on 'The Simpsons' are now ingrained in popular culture, the feverish netherworld that Williams depicts perhaps inevitably feels more like shrill melodrama than groundbreaking drama. Fortunately, Blanche is the saving grace here, a hugely alluring car-crash heroine in any decade."
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"What’s refreshing here is just how formidable Anderson’s Blanche is...While Anderson might be the star attraction, the most compellingly original performance is Ben Foster’s...It’s a shame, then, that the production flounders at the same time Blanche begins to come apart at the seams...The tone shifts to heavily applied surrealism, lacking the freshness of what has gone before...This otherwise powerfully visceral production feels disappointingly laboured as it draws to a close."
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"Benedict Andrews's version steams off the stage with pain, excitement and clamour...Andrews's main interventions here are visual, taking you into the core of the play...The evening belongs to Anderson, who makes each phase of the DuBois disintegration her own...Her collapse is spectacular: a terror of blotched lipstick and flying petticoats. Her departure is a masterclass in how to make audiences weep."
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"It's the best sort of theatre-in-the-round, turning the style's disadvantages and drawbacks to aesthetic triumph...Blanche literally lives out of her suitcase, a process I've never seen conveyed so poetically before...Ben Foster is hunky and sweaty, but sexual charisma's not his strong point...Williams's language melds poetry with base idiom, explosive argument with the jazz riffs of the emotionally, as well as materially, dispossessed. And that's what this production honours fully."
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"Never have I seen a production of the play that was so raw in its emotion, so violent and so deeply upsetting...Staging is equally compelling...Performances are superb, with Gillian Anderson giving the performance of her career...There isn't a moment when the tension slackens or attention lapses. It is an absolute knock-out."
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"Andrews does the play with an engrossing imaginative licence and visual splendour...And he has the great Gillian Anderson...It’s a performance by an actress of the first rank that everyone should see, but her Stanley, Ben Foster...gives us an unattractive troll of a man...This is as far-out and inventive a reconfiguring of 'Streetcar' as you’re ever likely to see. For all its skill, the way it establishes its own idiom with great authority doesn’t entirely ward off longueurs."
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