Streetcar

Part of an interview with Cate Blanchett and Liv Ullmann about their extraordinary collaboration with Tennessee Williams 'A Streetcar Named Desire' in 2009

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Cate
• Blanchett
• Liv
• Ullmann
• Streetcar
• Named
• Desire
• Theatre

[oneilcassandra]

Vivien Leigh mastered this part and perhaps due to her own personal struggles she was able to convey that breaking point of mental exhaustion that existed in Blanche. Blanchett gives an excellent performance but it didn't top Leigh's performances.

[BigDeanoSyd]

@oneilcassandra To me it was a matter of a slight difference in interpretation and emphasis, Cates approach to the part was more earthy and her choice to emphasise Blanches alcoholism and the strain of her inner battle were articulated to perfection, whereas Viviens performance was always teetering on madness and psychosis, both performances have illuminated this part far better than any others I have ever seen

[CapricornBG]

@oneilcassandra I will trust Meryl Streep's opinion:

"That performance was as naked, as raw and extraordinary and astonishing and surprising and scary as anything I've ever seen, and it didn't have anything to do with what clothes she took off, you know what I mean?

She took the layers of a person and just peeled them away.

I thought I'd seen that play, I thought I knew all the lines by heart, because I've seen it so many times, but I'd never seen the play until I saw that performance."

[BigDeanoSyd]

@CapricornBG Streep actually said that about Cates performance?

[waysmarterthanu]

did this show close permanently, or is it still travelling?

[BigDeanoSyd]

Its run has finished, it played limited seasons in Sydney, Washington and New York

[fumbler22]

This show was the most powerful production I have ever witnessed in my life. If Cate didn't convince everyone that she is arguably the best actress of all time (next to Streep), then I don't know what crack you were smoking! She had everyone floored! 7 standing ovations in New York is unheard of & she deserved every single one!

[googley3]

aaahh i saw this at the kennedy center and it was amazing!!  she is definitely my favorite actor now

[fumbler22]

@oneilcassandra Or take Jane Fonda's take on it: "I saw Cate in “Streetcar Named Desire” on Wednesday night. Liv Ullman directed it. I will say right here that it was perhaps the greatest stage performance I have ever seen"

Leigh's performance was brilliant but I feel Cate mastered this part. Part of what Cate does unique from Vivien is acknowledge the musicality of each line. She invested much more into the language and making Blanche's ache much more relatable than Leigh's all-out madness

[bawoman]

@BigDeanoSyd

Yep,she did.

[trimalz]

the people who watched the play should have recorded it:( i want to see it so baaaaaad

[CapricornBG]

@BigDeanoSyd She did, give it a google :)