A Streetcar Named Desire is an American classic play written by the famous playwright Tennessee Williams. This adaption by Stephen C. Byrd features a full cast of African and Latin American actors, including the acclaimed actor Blair Underwood. Byrd changes the characters, and hence the entire feel of the piece, making it a very “black” play.
There is a difference between the quality of a production and the quality of an overall play. I personally felt that the quality of the production – the talent, the set, the staging – was phenomenal as the audience really did feel the emotions that Stanley (Underwood) and Blanche (Nicole Ari Parker) acted. On the other hand, though, I was not very fond of the play at its core. Tennesse Williams, along with other playwrights such as Arthur Miller, for some reason likes to write plays based on lower class, struggling families or characters that don’t seem to have any appealing qualities. In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is an unappealing, unattractive character who in the end, I don’t have any connection to as a reader or viewer. Similarly, I did not feel any connection to the characters in Williams’ play, and not at the fault of the actors! The story, one about a mentally unstable woman and her slightly abusive brother-in-law, is bland and has nothing going for it.
Byrd changes the character of Stanley from being a white Polish man to being a black American. Though this changes the atmosphere of the piece, it shows the universality of Williams’ characters. Perhaps this is why A Streetcar Named Desire is such an American classic – universality. Whether Stanley is Polish, black, Hispanic, or white, his character fits into all facets of society.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Broadhurst Theatre
May 26, 2012
Marina B. Nebro
