Might be some spoilers here!!
Alright, so I don't know where to begin. I thought I would be over it by now but still when I think of the play I get this feeling of dazed wonderment.
Magical? Hell yes, it was!
The lights went out and we were enshrouded in complete darkness as the play began. To my right I heard a movement and I knew it was Cate. As Blanche, she was so shaky and nervous that I started getting nervous myself. She sat quietly in the corner as the dialogue commenced on stage right. I must admit, I didn't know what to do with my eyes. As I was so close and sitting right in front of the edge of the left corner of the stage, I literally had to turn my head to see the action taking place on stage right, but it was so easy to look at Cate sitting in front of me. Easy in a physical sense, but very very difficult on an emotional sense, and it was to become even more difficult as the play progressed. Even from the beginning I felt uneasy staring at her, as if I would make the fragile Blanche even more distraught by doing so.
The first act was more dialogue-based than the second, I thought. The characters were being introduced, and the second act was really where all the fragility of the characters were exposed. The lines were delivered perfectly and the audience responded accordingly. Quite a few moments were extremely laughter-provoking. And I got the impression that perhaps the American audience would find it funnier than the Australian audience, but this is just my feeling, of course.
Now, Joel was absolutely brilliant as Stanley, and whoever has any complaints about his performance, I'm pretty sure they were looking for Marlon Brando somewhere on the stage. It was a different Stanley, more understated, not with nearly as much of a stage presence as Brando but on an equal footing with Blanche. What is absolutely amazing about this production is that as much as Blanche is the central character, she doesn't drown out the others. When she is with Stanley, they are both equally present onstage. Even her scenes with Mitch and the newspaperboy? You understand that Mitch and the boy are just as important and central to the scene as Blanche is. This, I would think, is a tremendous achievement and kudos to Liv, and also to Cate's dimensions as an actress that she allows the others to work
with her rather than just support her in the background.
I have to say, we all agreed that Stella fell flat. Jen pointed out that she may be the hardest character to play, and I agree, but I thought Robin missed the point of Stella. First of all, she came across as being just a young girl in love with this handsome, wild man, but that is not all the role of Stella. Like every other character in the play, she has many layers that she needs to play out. I think Robin failed to do this. But she did get better in the second act. It will be interesting to see the play a second time and see what to make of her performance.
And, oh Cate... how on earth she doesn't just drop straight off to bed after the performance I don't know. The standing ovation at the end, it was mostly for her. She deserved it so, so much. It was a 3-hour performance, and all through it Blanche was shaking, always with tears in her eyes... often she would go from happy to sad in the blink of an eye (a tremendous understatement not reflecting the multiple layers of Blanche's emotional states). She would be frightened, repulsed, offended, hopeful, angry, hopeless, all in one scene. The emotional turmoil! It was unbelievable. Absolutely fantastic to see. The only other Blanche I've seen is Vivien Leigh in the 1951 film, well, the two are very different. Cate's Blanche seemed more real, in a way, which made it even more heartbreaking to see her completely break towards the end. I can see why people say they cried. After the play was over I thought, my God, I wish Tennessee Williams was seeing this! That line, delivered by Stella, something along the lines of "nobody was as tender and trusting as Blanche, but people like you [Stanley] abused her and forced her to change." Cate's Blanche really encompasses that description. A very fragile, delicate human being, whom we see at the very last stages of utter desperation. So much so that she would even stop resisting Stanley's advances and simply give in.
The last scene where Blanche is packing, and ready to leave... this was the emotional peak of the play for me. As the strangers from the hospital approach her, and as Blanche is so brutally exposed in the light, she gives a scream so heartbreaking, Mitch and Stella start to cry and the scene becomes a total chaos with people crying, screaming, running... and the moment I heard Blanche scream and try to run away, was the moment I thought I would start crying, but instead I started shivering and went into shock because I didn't know what it was I was feeling. It was unlike anything I ever felt before. Then the very final line, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers," very softly spoken, very understated... and as the lights went out, the last thing you could see was Blanche's face. The whole play was utterly hypnotizing. "I don't want realism, I want magic!" And magic she gave.
Now I'm quite sure at least two of the men sitting in front of me were critics... one of them seemed to enjoy the performance, the other, I'm not so sure, but I guess I'll be reading all the reviews soon to find out... however, if the strong, strong applause was any indication, there will be some ravers to be sure. I'm telling you, the applause was so strong and steady and you could tell it was really mostly for Cate. Her Blanche completely blows you away. And never will I imagine Cate onstage the same way again. After this night, my admiration of her as an actress has grown twice, thrice, hell, all the way to infinity, as if it were possible, as if I didn't think so much of her before this!
;)
