The Florians theatre group presents classic 20th century drama A Streetcar Named Desire from Wednesday with director Jo Galloway outlining the challenges bringing the iconic play to the stage

There have been plenty of challenges for The Florians with their latest production – from purely practical ones to creating clashing, passionate characters and negotiating the tricky subject of domestic violence in the 21st century.

Set in 1950s New Orleans, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire pitches the mentally fragile faded and poverty-stricken Southern belle Blanche Dubois against the brutish, resentful Stanley, husband of Blanche’s younger sister Stella. Lies and judgmental attitudes tear apart the young couple’s happy lives when Blanche turns up to stay – her own hopes of finding a partner being dashed when Stanley uncovers some scandalous truths about his sister-in-law.

And the play continues to fascinate 21st century actors, such as Gillian Anderson who appeared as Blanche in a stage revival at the Young Vic in 2014, going on to win a best actress Olivier Award.

It was this production - shown free online during the pandemic in 2020 as part of the National Theatre At Home series – that was one of the inspirations for Florians’ director Jo Galloway when she was choosing what play to stage as the theatre group’s next production.

Jo said: “I’m an English teacher and I like to do shows that I have a connection with myself, either I’ve taught or I have seen in production and really enjoyed and want to put my own spin on things.

“I’d been watching the production with Gillian Anderson as Blanche on the National Theatre series.

“I was just inspired by it.

“I just felt with more up and coming young talent becoming involved in theatre, it would be so nice to give them a chance to push boundaries and give audiences something a bit different.

“I think The Florians have put on some amazing productions over the years and I thought this would be something different.”

But Jo knew it had controversial moments.

“There is a potential shock factor there with key themes – there is domestic abuse, violence, rape.

“The play was written in 1947, a very different time. So there was a lot to think about.

“We got in touch with Women’s Aid and they were quite happy to get involved because I think the themes might be triggering to some people, though we handle them quite sensitively.

“We try to get empathy for the main characters and what they are going through.”

There will be a collection for Women’s Aid during the play’s run.

The play creates intense moments and huge tensions between the main characters. But at different times, the audience must feel sympathetic and understanding about their feelings and attitudes as well as being critical of the way the characters behave.

Does that mean the roles are particularly challenging for the cast?

Jo said: “Yes. It was just a small amount of people who came along to the auditions, but I have worked with some of them before and had seen them in action, so we were very lucky.

“I think the actors, especially Alison Ozog who is playing Blanche, is very passionate and has played a number of strong roles in the past.

“This is something completely different and she has said this role is one of her hugest challenges to date.

“But the fragility of Blanche and also her experiences, to watch Alison makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. She has had a perfect idea of how she sees the character and it is just amazing to watch.

“But that’s true of all of the cast.

“And the role of Stanley – oh my goodness.

“Some of our cast have been watching and have said ‘He’s a brute! There is nothing redeeming about this character!’

“For Simon, who is a softly-spoken teacher, this was always his dream role because he has been cast as the good guy in the past

“He just wanted to show he could play the part of Stanley, and it is almost like a second human, almost as if he is possessed by this character!

“But we have had fun rehearsals, even though the play can be dark.”

On the practical side, Jo has had some puzzles to solve.

She said: “We had a complication with the set because the idea is it goes up levels and the staircase is quite iconic, so it was like ‘In the Florians Theatre, how do we accomplish this?’.

“But Allen Perrin the stage manager, he has had lots of experience, down in London too as he has grown up in theatre, so his ideas have been brilliant.”

And with passions running high in the play, the sound of breaking glass is a regular accompaniment with some practical health and safety issues…

Jo laughed: “All the props have to be health and safety ready, but still create the impact.

“Stanley smashes a few things ­ – a radio and a plate and then Blanche does an iconic scene with a smashed bottle.

“I was racking my brains thinking ‘What are we going to do?’, we couldn’t use real glass or real bottles, so I did a lot of research on YouTube with our props lady Lisa Senior and we came up with sugar glass.

“You can buy in special bottles – hopefully by opening night we will have it down to a fine art!

“I also had to make plates out of plaster of Paris because we couldn’t use real plates – they would probably shatter and might cut people.

“And Lisa has made a special radio!”

Tickets for A Streetcar Named Desire are on sale for the four performances from Wednesday (June 15) to Saturday, June 18 at 7.30pm in The Florians Little Theatre. The play contains explicit content not suitable for young people with themes of domestic and sexual violence. Parental guidance required. In line with the themes explored in the play The Florians will be taking a collection for Women's Aid to which audience members are invited to contribute.

Tickets: https://www.florians.org.uk/tickets.html

Follow on Twitter: @theflorians and Facebook: @florianstheatre

More info on the website: florians.org.uk

* Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy played Stanley and Blanche in the original 1947 Broadway play. Brando reprised Stanley, one of his most famous roles, in the 1951 movie, but was the only actor among the four leads who didn’t pick up an Oscar. Playing Blanche, there was one for Vivien Leigh, who had already won one 11 years earlier playing another famous southern belle, Scarlett O’Hara, in the film of Gone With The Wind.