Sydney Theatre’s ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ stunning

There are three major — and many minor — reasons why the Sydney Theatre Company’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Kennedy Center will be remembered as a superb production.

First, the play is one of Tennessee Williams’ finest, a beautifully crafted tale of desire, dishonesty, cruelty and love. Second, the complicated role of Blanche DuBois is played by the extraordinarily gifted actress Cate Blanchett. Finally, the production is directed by Liv Ullmann, who brilliantly illuminates all aspects of the script’s psychological complexity, sexuality, humor and sadness.

“Streetcar” begins with Blanche arriving in New Orleans to visit her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley. Blanche, a Southern belle who lives on illusions and believes she exists “to create joie de vivre,” is horrified by the shabby conditions of Stella’s life and by Stanley’s “brutish” behavior.

Stanley (the excellent Joel Edgerton) is an earthy man, disgusted by Blanche’s pretentions and lies. As the two battle for supremacy of the tiny living space, Stella (sensitively played by Robin McLeavy) is caught in the middle, loving her sister but also desperately in love with her husband.

Ullmann neatly details the intense frustration among these three, turning a run-down apartment in the French Quarter into a cauldron where emotions heat up quickly and continually threaten to boil over. A talented ensemble of Stanley’s poker buddies magnifies the play’s nonstop tension. Tim Richards is particularly moving as one of those friends, Mitch, who falls hopelessly in love with Blanche.

Many elements coalesce to make this production successful. In Ralph Meyers’ set, a horizontal space at the lower half of the stage serves as the cramped apartment, with dirty pink walls and filthy windows. Above, a small window represents another apartment. The rest of the stage is dark concrete, suggesting enclosure and entrapment.

Nick Schlieper creates a sense of time relentlessly elapsing with his subtle lighting design, reproducing in reds, golds and violets the hot passage of Louisiana’s days and nights. Paul Charlier’s sound design weaves blues music throughout this production to great effect, particularly Williams’ own favorite: “If I Didn’t Care.” Costume designer Tess Schofield’s sheer, pastel dresses for Blanche contrast neatly to Stanley’s brighter shirts.

“Streetcar” is a difficult play to produce, in part because few actresses can convincingly portray every side of the quixotic Blanche, so her final agony can seem unrealistic.

But in this thought-provoking version, Blanchett captures all aspects of Blanche’s self-deception, sexuality, selfishness, worldliness, otherworldliness and flirtations with disaster. Ultimately the sad, lonely exit of Blanchett’s character seems to be the natural consequence of Blanche’s personality, history and behavior, an exit that is utterly credible and haunting.