Two weeks into 2023 and we have already arrived at one of the year’s hottest, most hyped shows. The excitement around this production of Tennessee Williams’s 1947 drama of desire, delusion and mental illness has been both over its casting of screen star Paul Mescal and its director, Rebecca Frecknall, whose revival of Cabaret won copious honours last year.
A Streetcar Named Desire warrants the hype, although at first it looks as if Frecknall’s directorial vision is driven by a rampant theatricality which might eclipse Mescal’s performance (and every other) and drain the play of its emotional power.
