Stella... Primal, Passionate, and a star in Blanche's world...

Stella, Stella, Stella...  A role packed with intense passion and for many young ladies, a dream role.

My view?  Well, Stella is in her early to mid 20's, a passionate being, who is intensely dedicated to the people in her life.   Her accent is layered with the NOLA inflection.  She is the focus of both Stanley and Blanche's attentions.  A 'star' that both characters are drawn to...  Stella, like Blanche, is from Mississippi.  She left in her late teens, presumably to seek a little freedom from her sister and the confines of the aging ruin of a relic, Belle Reve.  She was likely attracted to the decadence of New Orleans, the freedom and primal 'heartbeat' that exists all through the city.  She is fundamentally, a primal character... seeking her survival, seeking a life away from the cobwebbed gentility of her childhood world.  


Extremely dedicated to her sister, extremely drawn to her husband, Stella becomes the 'prize' in the battle between Stanley and Stella.  Blanche expects the sisterly love and dedication of Stella... Stanley demands (and gets) it.  


The relationship between Stanley and Stella is intensely base and sexual.  When the two are together, passion will fill the room.  The chemistry will be electric and that little heartbeat, I spoke about above will completely overtake the senses.   They are drawn to each other, as a cat in heat is drawn to the local tomcat.  However, I do believe there is love between them, but there is also control.  Though, he comes from a family of tradition, he considers himself a 'new man', looking toward the changes the world is making after the end of World War II. 

Stella so wants to be a good wife and please her husband, but she is also a 'new woman'.  She fights the gentility of her upbringing, with her desperate need for independence.  But, still she 'belongs' to Stanley, knows it, and accepts it.  The more she accepts it, the more dependent she is on him for her base survival. 


Her love and dedication to Blanche is fueled by her memories of childhood... probably notable and cherished memories, as the two girls seemed to be a 'team' in a world dominated by expectations, society, and even the men of their family.  In my view, Blanche looked after Stella, cared for her, and loved her.  Probably the only honest love either have ever experienced in their lives.  

I do believe Stella is dealing with her own demons from her past (and the current issues of abuse from Stanley)  and as Blanche's  mind begins to deteriorate, she finds yet another to contend with.  As we leave the little house on Elysian Fields, we are led to believe that Stella will go on living, with little or no fallout from the tragic scene that just occurred.  But, really now... She just sent her sister off to be 'sectioned' for the rest of her life, with little hope of recovery... just the knowledge of 'promising' new techniques to help the insane...  hmmm...  How blind is Stella really?

Now for a few audition notes for Stella-- 

The actress cast should be able to sing, as I would like to have the character sing at different points .


She should be able to handle a lot of movement -- let's just say she will spend a great deal of time in Stanley's arms.


She should be quietly intense and powerful... facially strong in in emotion and packed (herself) with 'layer upon layer' of personality, life experience, and performance opinion... 


I have been asked several times what my perfect Stella would look like (and Blanche and Stanley and Mitch)... I hate to pre determine a cast physically in my mind, so that little tidbit of insight shall remain a mystery... for now.  


Now, for Tuesday / Wednesday...  Have not had a lot of questions regarding Mitch (only 3 or 4), but will be discussing him a bit in the next post.  And, then on to some general comments about auditions and my views on the show in general, so stay tuned!

Blanche DuBois... She always depended on the kindness of strangers...

I know I promised to focus on both Blanche and Stella in this post, but I think Blanche is such a complex character, that she deserves the focus today.  I will discuss Stella later in the week.

Blanche is one of those characters often played adequately, but rarely played honestly.  First and foremost, Blanche is human and shares many of the same issues, stresses, unhappiness, and challenges of women today.  Like Blanche, we are all struggling with issues from our past and as we try to start anew, we face so many challenges. We falter, we succeed, we stumble and sometimes we get right back up and continue on our path.  But for some women, getting up and moving on gets more difficult every time they have to do it, making it easier to fall into despair and depression.  Any other inherent emotional or personality issues will then be amplified.    

The most common question thus far has involved dialect.  Blanche should have a strong Mississippi  dialect.  As she spends time in New Orleans, some of the NOLA inflection will layer itself on top of that, as it is very easy to pick up and top off any other regional accent.  And, no... The Mississippi dialect is NOT the same as the NOLA dialect. 

I feel it is important that any actress playing Blanche must call upon what is deep within herself and bring forth many levels of emotional experience.  I do NOT want a copy of another artist's version of Blanche.  What I term as 'photocopy' acting is entirely unacceptable to me.  The actress who is cast as Blanche will be able to bring forth truth and honesty into her performance. I hope for an actress with experience in life, emotions, distress, unhappiness, despair, elation... a full spectrum of emotional experience.  Of course, she must be able to display a solid theatrical background and the trappings that go along with that (clear and truthful dialect, diction and articulation, projection, motivated movement, levels, subtext, organic growth and all the other elements that make up a solid and believable performance.)  I do not want her to be portrayed as any other Blanche I have seen - I do not want her stereotyped.  Every movement, every word, every thought... there are reasons for everything she does.  Not everything is done for selfish and narcissistic reasons.  Her past has led her to this point.  I do not see her as a solid manipulator.   As I told one potential cast member:

"When we meet her at the start of the play, she has indeed suffered and is broken, but trying to get back on her feet.  Trying to be strong through all of her suffering and doing it in the way she was taught a woman does it.  I want her to have made some sort of self realization before coming into the play, as though she is getting a new start,  I want her to be optimistic, yet fragile… I do want her to have a  little more conscious power, as though she senses where she is heading , and struggling to keep everything in control as best she can.  There is a level of despair in Blanche, that I want to clearly pull through, even when she is smiling and enjoying herself.  Though the rape is probably the major point of climax in the play, it is not the only underlying theme.  Mental illness, the struggle between past conventions vs. modern progression,  and abuse on all levels… these are some of the things we will discuss when rehearsals go into character and table work..."

 If you wish to call my approach ' method' then, by all means, do.  That is how I was trained in Drama School and that is the approach I use when I take on a role myself.  So many people today misunderstand the true meaning of 'method'...  and attack those who use it.  Stanisalvski's teachings are so very basic and necessary.  Most actors who shun this technique, actually do not realize that much of what they do as an actor, has roots in method teachings.  Because this play was written and developed during the height of popularity  of this 'new style of acting', we will definitely be utilizing it in this production.

As far as character development, we will spend a bit of time in tablework, discussing character issues.  I encourage anyone hoping to audition for this role to take a look at some of the analytical writings of STREETCAR and Blanche online.  Many clues to symbolism and character workings can be found in them; however, be prepared - we will be starting fresh with our own take on the story, our own ideas and new thoughts.  We will toss out all the old pre-conceived ideas and reevaluate for ourselves.  

 Something to think about - Who did Williams base his character of Blanche DuBois on?  He did base many of the characters he wrote on people in his life.  Perhaps his institutionalized sister... or even himself... 


Now, I leave you with photos of some recent Blanche DuBois... some professional productions, some not.  

 

A little photographic inspiration...

So, wanted to put out a couple of nice little pics from one of my many visits to New Orleans... for a little inspiration.  Will add my normal Tuesday post tomorrow... to discuss Blanche and Stella...

A Streetcar, as it travels down St. Charles in the Garden District, near Tulane University...

This is actually on Elysian Fields...

This is in the Quarter....

 Also, in the quarter...

 At Cafe Beignet on Bourbon... none of that Cafe du Monde nonsense for me... Best beignets are in the quarter in CB.

Finally, a building in Laurel, Mississippi...

Until Tuesday.