When the Wimberley Players announced their 2023 season, I applauded their lineup of classic plays that included “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde and “Sense and Sensibility” by Kate Hamil (from the Jane Austin novel of the same name). But I secretly wondered how they could pull off “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Anyone over 50 who is the least bit literate in American theater will have some experience of Marlon Brando’s film portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in the drama by Tennessee Williams. His raw and desperate cry of “Stella” has traveled widely throughout the American experience, and it’s a lot for any actor to live up to.
Tennessee Williams was 36 years old when he wrote Streetcar. It has been speculated that Williams’ vulgar, irresponsible bullies, like Stanley, were probably modeled after his own father and others who tormented Williams during his childhood.
