London's Gillian Anderson STREETCAR cinecast- Page 2

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 6:14pm

"Nitpicky distractions - the mike packs/wires, the old lady in the front row with the cane who never stopped beaming, Stella's tight green pants, Stella's accent, Chris Isaak, and probably a few more which are not meant as criticisms. "

My friend and I commented on that woman in the audience too. Actually, a few times I was really fascinated to see how the audience was watching it--and noticed I was using some of the same posture as audience members at key parts.

My issue with the Chris Isaaks was that the song is so 90s to me--if you're going to set it now, why use an old song (I had no idea what the other songs were, so that wasn't an issue for me there.) I also have a personal connection to it (Jr High girlfriend,) so that probably played a part, as well. The mikes only bothered me -- or I only noticed them when Stanley was shirtless. I wonder if they were for the cinecast? I've not been to the Old Vic, but it seems so small that I wouldn't think mikes were needed.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 6:16pm

Blacktor said: " it became monotonous and grating to me, and in the second half especially I wished there were more colors to help sell me on Blanche's deterioration, heartache, and ultimate breakdown."

I do agree here. I actually thought she was MUCH better in the second half (and by much better I mean outstanding,) but in hindsight I wish her voice had changed more. It made sense to use that approach in the first half, but I felt it should have broken down by the end, to some extent.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 6:19pm

"Mitch is a fantastic role IMO, and Corey Johnson NAILED it (despite sounding like a New Yorker some of the time!). Warmth, vulnerability, and naivete gave way to feelings of betrayal and brute force in a great way. "

Mitch is so often portrayed, after the film, as kinda a complete loser. There's usually no sense as to why Stanley and his friends would even hang out with him -- I thought Johnson really made the role his and it was by far the best interpretation of the character I've seen.

[Blactor]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 8:55pm

Eric:

Although I hate to compare apples to oranges, there were a couple of moments in the Streetcar film that REALLY stood out to me in Vivian Leigh's performance (and I wanna preface it by saying that I was really turned off by Leigh at first, but she won me over eventually and by the end she left me devastated):

1) In the scene where they're waiting for Mitch, who will never show, Stanley makes a remark about Blanche taking forever in the bathroom, and Blanche replies with "I apologized three times!" or something to that effect. In the film, Leigh is visibly shaken by Mitch's absence but she ROARS this line--it's so SHOCKING in its ferocity, and it was so guttural and visceral. Anderson stayed on pretty much the same note in this moment, tonally.

2) I forget which scene it is precisely--I think it's after Stanley presents Blanche with the bus ticket--Leigh let out this sound that I can only describe as a howl that was choked by sobs. It was so devastating that I replayed it several times; I started crying, because it was such a powerful moment that illustrated in so many ways that Blanche had been split wide open. Anderson plays this moment again, on a note that isn't much different than the work that came before.

I point these things out not to diminish what Anderson did, or to say that "I wish she did it like Leigh did it", but as I was watching I couldn't help but think about the possibilities that were sacrificed in lieu of maintaining a specific vocal and physical interpretation that, while entertaining at first, seemed inadequate in the end in allowing the actor to express a truly wide and deep range of emotions.

Okay, off the soapbox...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 10:20pm

Please stay on the soapbox! You make great points, and I value this conversation.

I actually felt that during the first half, I often thought Anderson was phoning in Leigh. I still found her performance mesmerizing but very Leigh like (as opposed to the clips we've heard of Tandy in the role, etc.) That changed for me with the boy collecting for the Star (speaking of anachronisms -- does anyone collect in the update for newspapers nowadays, and if they do would a lower middle class household like Stanley and Stella's even subscribe to one?) Anderson went full throttle crazy--and complete by the end with the Baby Jane lipstick, and it really worked for me.

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 12:50am

can't wait to see this broadcast in a few week. not sure why my local theater is screening it so late but what a great opportunity to see this, for my first time

[The Other One]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 8:54am

Eric, I have loved reading every comment in this thread. I thank you for starting this civil discussion.

Blactor, I wonder if the differences between Leigh and Anderson in the two occasions you note have less to Anderson being one-note than they do with her conceiving Blanche so differently. Gillian's Blanche had a confident exterior that she consciously showed to everyone. Revealing vulnerability came very, very hard to her. Vivien's had a very vulnerable air about her at all times. Some of it was indeed manipulation, a bit of a Southern Belle act, but she was ultimately more vulnerable than she herself realized, so Stanley's insults punctured a more fragile woman. Anderson was steely on the surface, snooty even. Her Blanche revealed nothing to anyone until she was entirely spent. Even her scene with Mitch, in which she confides all about Alan, was more reserved. There was not the sense of her being haunted by their past that actresses usually convey, or, more accurately, not the sense of her being aware of it.

I never meant to imply in my earlier post that her interpretation was one-note, by the way. I just felt that she had trained her voice to always be heard in the back row, and every line was spoken as though if she didn't keep her voice in that one place she might not be heard. I am sure she accomplished the goal of being heard, and would have in a larger theater as well, but her voice lost all sense of cadence and shading as a result. To listen to her performance on a radio, you would indeed think it was one note. To watch it without sound, you would think you were getting all the colors of the spectrum and then some. It was a fascinating contrast.

Someone on the other board said the feed in the theater they saw it in went dead just after Blanche delivered her last line and did not come back up until the curtain call. That is so unfortunate, isn't it? That last scene was played so beautifully, devoid of all cliche despite Blanche's last line being perhaps the most iconic one in the history of American drama. The image of Stanley, Stella and their baby on the steps, with a Stella facing an uncertain future with her man-child and their offspring, was remarkably powerful; incredibly multi-leveled. The play has never left me with more of a sense of unease.

[vassey]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 9:43am

From a technical point, I think they should have stopped the revolve for the NT Live showing. It proved very difficult to keep the camera on without a piece of scenery floating past.

[Brick]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 10:58am

I thought that at times, but that would have been what it was like for the audience there. So, once again, NTLive did the beautiful work of making you think you were seeing it live in that house.

And with that in mind, the camera work was phenomenal.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 11:54am

Sadly, there were only 15 of us in the movie theater when I saw it.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 12:48pm

It was well attended here and while Victoria has a pretty decent arts scene, it's also a city known for being inhabited by the "newly wed and the mostly dead," so I was pleased to see ages ranged from several groups of high school students to three women behind me who I overheard mention they had come from a nursing home (and absolutely loved it--at intermission I heard one of them say how they should come to all of the National Theatre showings.)

The revolve didn't bother me, and often I found it striking, though I gave up trying to think about why and when it was used (I did notice that it changed directions in the last scene.)

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 1:44pm

Apparently, the revolve gradually gets faster in Act 2 as Blanche descends further into madness - to, I guess, symbolize, how she is spinning out of control.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 5:56pm

I admit, I completely missed that.

[theeatah]

Posted: 9/19/14 at 10:55pm

I love the revolve. Apart from a few moments where the doorframe obscured someone's face, I thought it worked for the filming - helping combat the static quality that often permeates filmed theatre.

I agree that Kirby's shaky accent work was a minus, though I liked that her Stella was quite forceful - not something I've seen much in portrayals of that character.

I know Anderson has done quite a bit of stage work so I was surprised and disappointed at her vocal production as the play progressed, particularly in the last half hour or so. It distracted from Williams' words. I liked her performance overall, though.

I also liked Foster and agree about the believability as someone of Polish stock. I thought the famous "Stella!" scene was done very well.

I actually appreciated the non-40s setting, especially as it's a non-American production and non-American evocations of the American south, and especially Williams' south, tend to be woeful. For instance, I'd rather that Kirby slipped into her English accent than to have her do an OTT Southern accent and have it impede her acting, as is almost par for the course in such productions, in my experience (not that shakey accent/cartoon accent are the only possibilities, of course).

Also, I think the "modern" setting was meant to be non-specific - not specifically 2014 or 1996 (I only knew the PJ Harvey and Chris Isaak tracks - both 90s tracks). Anderson's long scarlet dress, for instance, wouldn't be worn by any modern woman but the most costumey retro devotees, in contrast to her other shorter dresses. Similarly, her furs would have a contemporary era Stanley scratching his head - they weren't what one would have seen in a J.Lo video circa 2000 or 2013.

I think this "cheeky" approach to setting freed up the production from the weight of "Classic" Streetcar/Williams. It also think it made the story much more immediate - less about grand archetypal stuff (Stanley/Brutality versus Blanche/Sensitivity) - more about domestic warfare and ongoing mental illness. I think that ties in with the choice not to stage the rape as Blanche tipping over into full blown "madness". While Blanche was clearly violated while unconscious, they made the choice to have her caress his face before passing out. And Foster seemed almost like a boy digging for treasure as he burrowed through the layers of her dress. It aligned him with the other boys of the play - the paperboy (had he not run away) and the young soldiers. It almost felt like less a stand alone horrific event and more an example of something that may have happened to Blanche many times before - still a violation, not something to be dismissed as everyday or acceptable, but sadly not unknown to the coquette who invites young men in to her home in a drunken search for her eternally lost boy.

In short, this production seemed less about a fragile woman who's undone by a monstrous man, and more about the trajectory of untreated mental illness and substance abuse. Stanley remains a precipitating force in Blanche's decline, but less her Nemesis than in other productions. And that gives the audience extra impetus to look at the other characters that hurt, or at least, fail to help Blanche - her young husband and his "daddy", Mitch, and perhaps most of all, Stella.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/20/14 at 2:42pm

I was thinking about the updating all week, and I think Theeateh said it best, it seemed kinda timeless, which worked. At times I felt that it was set in the forties--which by the second half no longer remained an issue.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 9/20/14 at 3:56pm

It almost felt like less a stand alone horrific event and more an example of something that may have happened to Blanche many times before - still a violation, not something to be dismissed as everyday or acceptable, but sadly not unknown to the coquette who invites young men in to her home in a drunken search for her eternally lost boy.

I don't go along with that at all. This was the trauma that finally obliterated her sanity...right?

One other thing about the mikes packs, as Blanche was led away by the doctors, it looked as if she'd pooped herself. At least I thought so...

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 6:58pm

By the way, I take it we're all excited about the new biography by John Lahr? I know I am.
Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh

[HorseTears]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 4:15am

Just saw a screening in Irvine tonight. I can't add anything new that hasn't already been said about the performances and the unusual production. I just can't believe Gillian Anderson was doing this 8 times a week. The last half hour alone looks like a completely draining experience.

[idinasb]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 8:11am

Gillian has said that there are plans to bring the show to NY that hopefully work out. Likely not until 2016 though. There's no Broadway house that could take the production the way they did it in London so it seems like they may be looking into building a space for it. I really hope this happens because as fantastic as it was seeing the screening of this show, i'm sure it will be even more intense in person!

[HorseTears]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 1:18pm

That's exciting. Though, I do hope they recast Stella and get Anderson a vocal coach.