The National Theatre is streaming their production of A Streetcar Named Desire

I loved it. Glad they are re-airing.

Is anyone watching?

Gillian Anderson is so underrated as an actress. She's one of our greats.

Who cares?

It's all about who's Stanley.

Who's Stanley? This thread is useless without pics.

Just watched five minutes. Stanley does not even attempt a southern accent. I guess he just arrived in New Orleans from up north. And Anderson has the broadest approximation of a southern accent one could imagine.

I'll pass on the rest of it

r5 your loss.

It's a really interesting interpretation by the director.

Love this production. It must have wreaked havoc on Anderson's voice, particularly the later parts of the play.

Also a truly fuckable Stanley - I've seen so many fit-fat Stanleys over the years

Gillian is spectacular, but the fucking accent is so irritating in itself, like that of that damn kid who wanted to pat that damn dog!!!

But Ben Foster looks like a roided-out retard. PASS!

An apartment furnished at IKEA. Oh, my.

I do buy Ben Foster as a Southern redneck, but not as a sex symbol.

What's with the modern dress and no scenery?

Fuck that bullshit

I disliked this production, a lot, but though I don't care for her interpretation of Blanche, I think it signals Anderson as a great stage actress. She has the skills to be a dominant force for a few more decades if she continues to choose well (Sex Education is a terrific TV property for her, but I'd love to see her tackle Ibsen sometime soon on the stage).

r12 she already did A Doll's House. You missed it. And she's been doing stage pretty much every year for the last 15.

Not in London regularly anymore, r13, so that sucks to have missed it. She's a good fit for that part. We need her enlivening the stages in New York, too (saw this live at St Ann's, and while I intensely disliked the production, she is an undeniable force).

Anderson was wonderful in Hannibal and The Fall. I wish her character in the latter was spun off into another series

Anderson’s monotonous cadence and volume as she delivers monologue after monologue is very irritating. She is less tragic moth uncontrollably drawn to the flame and more relentless nag. She makes me sympathetic to men who beat women.

r16, I'm guessing you were already sympathetic to men who beat women

r14, she’s did at least one big production on Broadway, or maybe Off, just after the X-Files ended. I would have liked to have seen her in The Sweetest Swing In Baseball. The play isn’t fantastic but it is very funny and I love it when she does comedy.

Ben Foster is super hot. Too bad he's been a lunatic and oh so SERIOUS scientologist for quite some time now. It's like he found out The Truth and it's so heavy and important that he's unable to smile anymore.

I'm watching it tonight

I thought this was breathtaking. Some very odd directorial choices here and there, but some strokes of brilliance as well. Anderson was indeed a bit shrill and strident at the start but I assume that was a decision so that by the end she is hoarse and broken. Was Vanessa Kirby wearing ass padding in the first scene? She must have been. I know Ben Foster is kinda nuts in real life but he was magnificent. The “Stella!” scene made me weep (Mary!) and he looked great in his underwear. Very very sexy production. Overall, loved it.

Ben Foster probably had to give B. Singer's ass a tongue bath. I condole him.

Why is Ben Foster known as nuts? I haven’t heard.

Well, with Robin Wright's taste in men...

Also, surprising to see it is such a big hit since it is not really super marketable (at least in the US). Nearly 700K views in only a few days.

[Quote] Also, surprising to see it is such a big hit since it is not really super marketable (at least in the US).

Are most of the views from the USA?

Gillian Anderson is a very underrated actress. I saw her Nora in A Doll's House at the Donmar and it was brilliant.

I can't imagine how conflicted she must have been during The X Files years.

How is she underrated when she played Nora in a A Doll's House at the Donmar? Blance in Streetcar? Miss Havisham in Great Expectations?

R28 Because she's seen as that one from The X Files rather than a talented actress. If you ask anyone who Gillian Anderson is they're not going to say "O yes she was in that Great Expectations BBC production".

It depends who you ask. She's made her career in the UK, post X-Files.

Wait, how long has Foster been a $cientologist? Is that what he had to come to get Laura Prepon?

*become

Has she found a nice lady to settle down with yet?

I honestly could not get through ten minutes of it. I literally turned it off and statutes watching the Vivien Leigh Streetcar.

*started

Why has the stream down been disabled?

It was not.

Here is a link. Today they start This House

I didn’t care for this interpretation. Stella was too timid and Blanche was too brassy and naggy. But that was a stylistic choice, because I thought both actresses gave great performances. I just don’t think Blanche is as effective being so tough. Stanley was great though the lack of Southern accent was odd.

I also got distracted by the IKEA furniture, though I thought the set was pretty inventive.

I saw Scarlett Johansson on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a few years ago, she played Maggie too harsh as well. Must be a modern thing? Williams female leads do better a little more understated.

R38, was Stanley born and raised in the South? If he moved there as an adult he probably wouldn’t have a Southern accent.

Good point, R39. I don’t think it is clear in the play.

I think it is usually assumed that Stanley moved to New Orleans after getting out of the military. From Brando on, few Stanleys have use a southern accent.

But where is a link to the Streetcar stream, R37?

That was last weeks show. The change day is Thursday.

Then next Thursday it will change to Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus.