麻豆社

One big dramatic role. Actors tell us what the part means and what it means to them. This time: Blanche DuBois.

Cate Blanchett and Patsy Ferran describe what it's like to play Blanche - a captivating, so-called Southern Belle from the play, A Streetcar Named Desire. She's fragile, flirtatious, a lover of poetry. We first meet her when she comes to stay with her sister in New Orleans. Later in the play, she falls victim to sexual violence.

Cate and Patsy are joined by Kirsty Stuart, in the middle of rehearsals for the play, Marge Hendrick, who played Blanche in a ballet version, and Gwendolyn Foxworth, a community actor from New Orleans. Nancy Schoenberger explores the roots of the role.

Since her debut on Broadway in 1947, Blanche DuBois has captivated audiences. Cate Blanchett says playing the role changed the course of her life and her career. She sees Blanche as a symbol for big ideas - concepts of poetry and brutality - and reveals how much Blanche has stayed with her. Patsy Ferran won plaudits for her portrayal of the part on the West End stage in 2023 - she dives into key passages from the play.

Tennessee Williams set the play in New Orleans, near the French Quarter, an area that Gwendolyn Foxworth knows well. Marge Hendrick, who starred in Scottish Ballet's version of the play, explores the difficulty of playing some of Blanche's most painful scenes and we join Kirsty Stuart in the middle of rehearsals for Pitlochry Festival Theatre's adaptation. Nancy Schoenberger, author of Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee WIlliams' Blanche DuBois, examines Blanche's roots and Vivien Leigh's famous performance of the part.

Produced by Camellia Sinclair and Sam Grist for 麻豆社 Audio, Bristol
Edited by Emma Harding
Mixed by Suzy Robins

Archive:

Drama on 3, A Streetcar Named Desire, 麻豆社 Radio 3, 26th March 2017
Director - Sasha Yevtushenko
Blanche - Anne-Marie Duff
Stanley - Matthew Needham
Mitch - John Heffernan

Sunday Play: A Streetcar Named Desire, 麻豆社 Radio 3, 14th June 1998
Producer - Martin Jenkins
Blanche - Glenne Headley
Stella - Amy Brenneman

Additional archive:
Front Row, 麻豆社 Radio 4, 16th January 2023 (featuring Patsy Ferran as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Almeida Theatre, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, 2023); Kaleidoscope Feature: A Temporary Enchantment, 麻豆社 Radio 4, 23rd November 1996 (featuring archive from A Streetcar Named Desire (Dramatized), Rosemary Harris as Blanche, James Farentino as Stanley, Caedmon, 1975); Changing Stages, 麻豆社 Two, 19th November 2000 (featuring archive from A Streetcar Named Desire [1951], Warner Bros. directed by Elia Kazan, starring Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois); Omnibus: Claire Bloom, 麻豆社 TV, 3rd March 1974; Frankly Speaking, 麻豆社 Network Radio, 2nd August 1959; Frost Over America: Tennessee Williams, 麻豆社 TV, 15th July 1970; In Town Tonight, 麻豆社 Network Radio, 6th August 1960; Music from Scottish Ballet's adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, 2012, composed by Peter Salem.

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