University of Virginia Library

STAGE

Lack Of Emotional Shape Mars 'Streetcar'

By PATRICIA PRINZ

The Virginia Players'
production of Tennessee
Williams' A Streetcar Named
Desire is best described by
saying that it has several fine
moments of acting, a good set,
and a lack of pace and shape
that make it occasionally seem
interminable.

There are a few nice
directorial touches by Robert
McLaughlin throughout the
play. The decision to employ a
street level outside of the
Kowalski apartment is
welcome and Mr. McLaughlin's
choice of scenes to play there
are wise ones. But Mr.
McLaughlin errs drastically in
his failure to give to the
production a definite
emotional shape.

One scene follows the next
with little or no difference in
emotional level or pacing. This
is particularly apparent in the
first act. A similar blandness
affects most of the scenes
internally. Few rhythms are
established within scenes and
there are times when one
patiently awaits this necessary
build only to discover that the
scene is finished.

Any qualms I might have
about Rafael Triana's Stanley
Kowalski stem from problems
of conception rather than
questions of acting ability. Mr.
Triana handles himself well on
a stage. His timing, for
example, is usually impeccable
and the pace of the show often
blessedly picks up when he
is on the stage. But I have
serious doubts about the
interpretation of Stanley.

Mr. Triana's Kowalski is
closer to a sharp, agile con-man
than to the child-man of
Williams' drama. Instead of the
native, instinctual cunning of
Stanley we see an almost
intelligent willingness. An agile,
quick Stanley has been
substituted for the
slow-reacting, physically
commanding character that the
play calls for. One also
desperately misses in Mr.
Triana's performance that
petulant, infantile quality of
Stanley that so ironically
parallels Blanche's girlishness.

The single level of emotion
which mars the production as a
whole affects Cathy Olim's
performance as the faded
Blanche Dubois in particular.
Physically Ms. Olim is fine in
the part. While she does not
have the Dresdon-doll fragility
of a Vivien Leigh she has
managed to invest Blanche
with a burnt-out quality that is
more than an adequate
substitute.

But Ms. Olim is plagued
with a sameness of vocal
quality that can be deadly in a
part which speaks fully half of
the play's lines. Similarly, there
is very little change in
Blanche's emotional tenor
throughout the play. Ms. Olim
is simply nervously agitated
from the moment she enters to
the moment she leaves the
stage, and rarely exhibits either
the pitiful paleness or quiet
exhaustion of Blanche.

Carolyn Hurlburt as Stella
Kowalski provides some of the
really fine moments in the
play. Ms. Hurlburt has
mastered the ability to listen to
other characters and to allow
her thoughts and emotions to
be subtly reflected in her face
and body. Her scene with
Stanley when she learns of
Blanche's past is one of the
most satisfying in the
production. But with Stella I
must again question the
interpretation of the role.
There is a danger that the
audience may become too
sympathetic to Stella in the
course of the play, thereby
reducing the pity that we must
feel for Blanche.

Stella's sensitivities have
been blunted by living with
Stanley and her final decision
to ignore Blanche's tale of the
rape and stay with Stanley
heralds the ultimate triumph of
the apes. Ms. Hurlburt's Stella
is often much too sensitive to
Blanche. Where there should be
abstracted concern on the part
of Stella for Blanche there is
intense and genuine feeling.
Stella's inability, and at times
conscious unwillingness, to
cope with the powerful
magnetism of Stanley to the
exclusion of others is never
high-lighted.

Finally, the physical
heaviness in movement that is
more properly a part of
Stanley is, for some
inexplicable reason, transferred
to Stella. The rather awkward
bovine quality of Ms.
Hurlburt's Stella hurts her
character rather than serving to
highlight Blanche's daintiness.

The other actors give
credible performances in their
parts. Helena Reilly turns in

an exceptionally good
portrayal of the Kowalski's
neighbor, Eunice Mubbell.

The costumes by Lois
Garren are certainly
satisfactory, with one glaring
exception. Blanche is much too
stylishly turned out. Granted
she is a woman who would
spend what money she has on
outfitting herself but she is also
a woman who is thirty and
wants to look eighteen. It
might be more effective if her
clothes suggested the
well-cared for remnants of an
earlier and happier time in her
life. The prom dress that she
dons in the second act, for
example, is closer to what is
required. But the lovely white
tailored suit that she arrives in
and satin dressing gown are too
au courant. I found myself
wondering whether she really
did pocket the money from the
sale of Belle Reve.

The sound for the
production is well-handled,
although I often wished for
more. Williams relies heavily on
music to give emotional
emphasis to scenes and music
might have been used more
frequently in this production. I
am sorry that Mr. McLaughlin
chose not to have Blanche sing
"Paper Moon" while she is in
the bathroom, solely for the
sake of the scene, but since he
did cut it I would suggest that
he also cut Stanley's
derogatory comment about
"canary bird" because it
doesn't make any sense in the
scene as it stands.

While this production of
Williams' drama may not be all
that one could hope for it
does, nevertheless, have some
interesting, and even
compelling, moments. Go to
see this presentation for these
moments and go to hear some
of the best dialogue ever
written by an American
playwright.

("A: Streetcar Named
Desire" is being presented
nightly through Sunday, with a
matinee Sunday at 2:30, in
Minor Hall. Phone 924-3051
for reservations.–Ed.)