Somehow it hadn’t occurred to me that “Tramway” at the Odéon would not be a straight rendering of the Tenessee Wiliam’s 1951 play “Streetcar Named Desire”.
I knew the Isabelle Huppert was playing Blanche and I had in my mind that she would be a great, cold, distant beauty. Boy was I wrong. From the first sound of the haunting music to the sight of the giant glass bathroom hovering over a bowling alley, I shivered. Oh no, here we go again, I thought. Another pseudo-intellectual rendering of a classic in the tradition of the Odéon. I’m going to be miserable.
But I was wrong. Although too long, this time, the super modern re-vamping of a classic, worked. Adapted and directed by the Polish director Krzystztof Warlikowski and translated into French by the incredibly versatile Wajdi Mouawad (whose “Ciel” will be playing at the Atelier Berthier in March), all of the anguish and terror of Streetcar was there even if a lot of the original language wasn’t. Why did this production work?
First and foremost - the cast. Isabelle Huppert is a stunning, shocking Blanche on the brink of loosing her mind. Blanche, usually played as a pristine Southern Belle, here is an over the hill party girl way too old to be platinum blonde, tottering on stilettos in tight, shiny dresses. Too many men, too many drinks, too much history.
Blanche comes to stay with her sister Stella, and Stella’s Polish husband in a tiny apartment at the end of the tramway line. Quickly Stanley’s violence takes over. The beatings of his very pregnant wife and the undercurrent of sexual tension finally erupts and Blanche falls over the edge.
We watch Huppert try to hold on, try to change the direction life is taking her. She seems okay (she jokes, smokes, dances) and then she isn’t. Although occasionally a bit overly dramatic (like a 1940s movie star think Joan Crawford or Bette Davis), Huppert keeps the tension and intensity alive. Joining her are the Polish actor Andrzej Chyra as Stanley, Florence Thomassin as Stella and Yann Collette as Mitch. Chyra allegedly is not a French speaker but this works to his advantage. He becomes the immigrant husband desperately resenting the presence of his sister-in-law, violent and angry but still in love with his wife. Also remarkable is Florence Thomassin ‘s Stella who is not the innocent wallflower but a tough, sexy working class broad. She spends much of the play in her underwear fighting off her husband (don’t forget we are at the Odéon so nudity is a requirement).
Secondly, the music. Interspersed in the play are songs from a variety of sources (from “Follow Me” by Amanda Lear to “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen) Sung by the versatile Austrian singer Renate Jett. But mostly the music is part of the set. Hauntingly played, the tension mounts.
Thirdly the set. In this production, the claustrophobic apartment is rendered in a corner but is open onto the rest of the stage under the plexiglass bathroom and in front of the bowling alley behind where Stanley likes to go and get wasted with his friend Mitch. Video is expertly used to project close ups of the actors wherever they are.
Krzystztof Warlikowski, the director, is one of the darlings of European theater and opera. Some may have seen his “Iphegenie en Taurus” at the Opéra de Paris a few years ago which was a real shocker (it took place in a nursing home with several naked men in showers dispersed around the set for no apparent reason). Better known and appreciated for “Angels in America” at Avignon in 2007 and “(A)pollonia” at Chaillot last year, here he captures the essence of Williams. He allows us a haunting “Stella” from Stanley, and leaves us with Blanche’s famous line, “"Whoever you are I have always depended on the kindness of strangers".
Final thought: do go see this but be sure you have read the play or seen the Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh version first. And don’t bring the kids. There is quite a bit of nudity and violence.
Gail Negbaur
© Etat-critique.com - 28/02/2010
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