PETALING JAYA, March 9 — For Joe Hasham’s fourth outing of A Streetcar Named Desire, the theatre stalwart had to explore new ways of presenting the iconic Tennessee Williams play to challenge himself.
So he decided to direct a Mandarin version.
“There’s something about the synergy of the style and formalities of southern America and that of the Chinese culture that seems to make it work very well,” Hasham told Malay Mail.
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (Klpac) has been waiting for a year and a half to stage the upcoming production that was delayed several times due to Covid-19 restrictions.
On top of rehearsing the show via Zoom in a language that Hasham and half of his creative team didn’t understand, the play is finally being staged.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play tells the story of the decline and fall of a fading Southern Belle, Blanche Dubois, who leaves behind a privileged background and moves into a shabby New Orleans apartment with her younger sister, Stella, and Stella’s brutish husband, Stanley.
She then befriends Stanley’s friend, Mitch, but her past soon catches up with her as her lies begin to unravel.
First staged in 1947, the play was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1951 starring Marlon Brando as Stanley and Vivien Leigh as Blanche.
Hasham said the contrasting themes of the play are universal, regardless of language.
The Klpac artistic director once played Stanley back in 1969 in Perth, Australia.
“As despicable as the role of Stanley is/was, I fell in love with him,” he said.
“I loved his brutish-no-compromise manner.
“I also loved his soft centre that is so much in contrast to his gruff and loathsome exterior.”
Hasham, who was heavily influenced by the Stanislavski method when he was studying at the National institute of Dramatic Arts in Australia was taught that to be truly honest and believable when researching a role, an actor must learn to love that character.
Fifty-three years later, his opinion of the domineering character hasn’t changed one bit.
“He will forever be the archetypal insecure male who is easily won over by his more intelligent wife,” Hasham said.
In 1993, he directed a critically-acclaimed staging for The Actors Studio which sold out
even before opening night and impressed audiences once again in 2014 with a bold dance drama adaptation starring two Japanese prima ballerinas.
“I suppose one of the most riveting things about Streetcar is the gripping narrative,” Hasham said.
“It is, at times, brutal and sometimes gut-wrenching. It is a great story and makes for wonderful theatre.”
Fundamentally, Williams’ work looks at the way in which a male-dominated setting stifles women.
Though the play is set in the ‘40s, characters like Stanley occupying the stereotypical alpha male role that perpetuates toxic masculinity, scarily fits into contemporary times.
“There are many examples in our Malaysian society of this type of character.
“We see it in our homes, in our businesses, and in our government.
“Not much has changed over the years, except that now we do tend to call it out more often,” said Hasham.
Actor John Tan, who plays Stanley, found the role to be a challenge because anyone who has watched Brando’s performance in the film will find it unforgettable.
“Stanley is an alpha male kind of character, a bad boy, very sexist and quite aggressive which is a total opposite of my own personality as I am relatively introverted,” Tan told Malay Mail.
“In order to prepare for the role, I watched the movie, video clips and I also studied some of the stage plays that were recorded to see different interpretations of the roles by different people.”
Adapting the play to Mandarin was no easy feat and the team spent a long time researching the best words and phrases so that Williams’ play wouldn’t be lost in translation.
Another major challenge for Tan and his co-star Ruby Faye who plays Blanche is a rape scene that serves as a pivotal moment in the play.
Prepping for the scene involved a lot of rehearsals to explore various ways of presenting it but Tan said Hasham provided plenty of guidance given his familiarity with the material.
“It is a scene that involves a lot of force and physical contact.
“Having trust among actors is important especially for scenes like this and I must thank Ruby for having faith in me,” Tan said.
Making a show during lockdown without a definite date was a gruelling experience and the Malaysia Film Festival Best New Actor confessed he almost wanted to give up on the role at one point.
“However, the commitment from the entire team who worked tirelessly to push ahead, keep everything and everyone together including the original cast and work on a new date each time it had to be postponed made me strengthen my resolve to continue as well,” he said.
After all the hard work involved to make the play a reality, Tan hopes theatregoers will enjoy the show, be entertained and most importantly, lend their support to the arts.
“We have all put in our best effort to ensure that the people who come to watch feel connected to the show and characters,” he said.
A Streetcar Named Desire will be staged at Pentas 2, Klpac with English subtitles.
Performance dates:
March 19, March 22 to March 26 (8pm)
March 20 and March 27 (3pm)
Tickets are priced at RM80, click here to purchase.
