Cate Blanchett captures faded-flower essence in Streetcar

cate blanchett

“So many people have condemned the play for its sordid theme,” Vivien Leigh said in a 1950s interview about Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the vehicle for one of her most indelible achievements as an actress. “To me it is an infinitely moving plea for tolerance for all weak, frail creatures, blown about like leaves before the wind of circumstance.”

That plea seemed more affecting than ever as the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of “Streetcar” unfolded Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, with Cate Blanchett inhabiting the central role of Blanche DuBois. (Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton are artistic directors of the company.)

Few characters are as fragile or as cruelly buffeted by fate, as Blanche, who never seems able to find a welcoming “cleft in the rock of the world.” Her need for sensual pleasure, social nicety and at least the illusion of enchantment collides with reality in the humble New Orleans lodging (”Only Edgar Allan Poe could do it justice,” she says) of her sister Stella and decidedly unsubtle brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski.

By revealing Blanche’s descent into madness – ascent may be a better word – Williams opens a window into what makes all of us human, all of us vulnerable.

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