Studying A Streetcar Named Desire (3)

Gillian Anderson, she of The X Files fame (1993 - 2002), follows in a royal lineage of leading ladies who took on Blanche Du Bois. 

Two trajectories determine Benedict Andrews’ in-the-round production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”: the tragic arc of Gillian Anderson’s remarkably vivid Blanche, and that of the near-permanently revolving set. The latter creates a striking metaphor for Blanche’s whirling state of mind, but as it slowly wheels around, you sense the two are somewhat at war. Although the movement’s centrifugal force spins Blanche’s thoughts outward, what’s missing is centripetal energy, the inward force that would focus audiences on dramatic details. A great production makes audiences feel complicit in Blanche’s story; here, we’re merely impressed voyeurs.

Reference: London Theater Review: Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

I would've loved to have watched this recent production at the Young Vic in London, the mixed review from critic David Benedict notwithstanding. I am thankful that theater fan Michaela Strnadová put together this video, so I (we) get fine glimpses of Anderson's performance.