"After Xu Niang's half-old charm of the 'southern beauty' Blanche was dismissed from her teaching position for 'inappropriate' behavior, she came to New Orleans to join her sister Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley's family. Stanley has a rough and reckless personality, an alcoholic and gambling addict, and is not accustomed to this pampered, arrogant and sensitive mysterious woman. During his stay, Blanche meets Stanley's best friend Mitch and develops a crush on each other, but Stanley always thinks that she will destroy her friendship, bring bad wife, and encroach on her own life, so she tries her best to destroy Blanche..."
Whether it is the relevant introduction of the Douban entry or the promotional materials of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, the above passage is used to introduce the plot of "Desire Street Car". But in fact, this introduction is quite misleading — at least from the current point of view, it is. A woman in her thirties is a good age with a flourishing style, and she should not use "Xu Niang is half old" to describe it. And under the appearance of "rudeness" and "drunkenness and gambling", Stanley hides a heart as shrewd and cruel as a predator.
The author of "The StreetCar of Desire" is the famous American playwright Tennessee Williams. Premiered in 1947, the play has won three American theater awards: the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Theater Award, and the Donaldson Award. Four years later, the play was adapted into a film, starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, and then swept the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Globes, the Oscars and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards for Film, winning several awards, including Best Actress.
Regarding the background of the creation of this play, the promotional materials of "Shangjiao" are introduced: "In the 1940s, the modern industrial civilization in the north of the United States and the traditional planting civilization in the south formed a sharp conflict, and under the impact of modern industrial civilization, many young people felt confused in life. At that time, the new feminist movement was also gradually emerging in the United States, and the contradictions between men and women became more and more intense. "Desire StreetCar" focuses on the social phenomenon of the time, and concentrates on the contradiction and conflict between reality and ideal. When reality triumphs in the name of desire, and the soul finally surrenders to desire, those fragile idealists will eventually be destroyed. ”
For many Chinese viewers, including me, because they do not understand, or do not know enough about, the clash of civilizations between the north and the south in the history of the United States, it is difficult to have any specific experience of the so-called "confusion of life" and "the contradiction and conflict between reality and ideals" in the above background introduction. But this does not hinder the viewing of the play, because the "contradiction between men and women", as well as those "desires", can be clearly felt in the process of watching the play and in the process of post-viewing rumination.
Zhao Sihan as Blanche
In this play, Blanche is undoubtedly the protagonist, the most central character, and the whole play is about the tragedy of her life. But we shouldn't also overlook another person, her sister Stella.
As soon as the whole play began, director Wang Huan let the sisters separate the stage left and right. Blanche stood in a white suit; Stella, dressed in a dark civilian dress, sat. This way of appearing clearly tells the audience that the sisters are a set of contrasts. The sad song of sister Blanche is also the sad song of sister Stella. And the composer of this sisterly song duet is a man like Stanley. Or rather, a social reality dominated by male desires.
The sisters were born in The Manor of Bellif, and their ancestors were once the owners of the large and generous manor. Only in their generation, the family property has long been mortgaged by the profligate grandparents. After the death of the sisters' father, sister Stella left Belleiff Manor. Why she left, the play does not say, but from the time she came to "Paradise Town", married a retired soldier who was far inferior to her, the current salesman Stanley, and willingly lived a life of poverty, we can guess that she may have long wanted to escape from The Bellif Manor and say goodbye to the way of life of the past. It's just that while her father is alive, subject to patriarchy, she wants to escape but can't. So after her father's death, she immediately ran away and married a man who had nothing to do with Belle-Rif and did not resemble her father.
Unlike her sister, Blanche may have been suppressed by the patriarchy, but she did not show as much disgust and saw her father more as a patron. So after her father's death, in order to keep the little property left in the Belleif Manor and maintain the way of life in the past, she wandered between different men and kept looking for new shelterers.
Xu Zihao as Mickey
Unfortunately, this famous lady had met many men in her life, but they either used her, like the gay poet she had married when she was very young, or coveted her beauty, like the soldiers who were drunk every weekend and whistled by her door. Her expectations were not fulfilled in the slightest, but she had a very bad reputation—her sister Stella tried to cover her up, but after much thought, she still had to use words like "frivolity", even her own biological sister still said so, and you can imagine what Blanche looked like in the eyes of others.
There are two details about this past, which is shown by the dialogue of the characters. One is blanche's change in criteria for selecting asylum seekers. From talented poets to rude soldiers, is there some kind of socio-cultural shift in anti-intellectualism? It's like in The Big Bang Theory, where school bullies like Leonard are always bullied in school, and even the rugby captain, who has muscles in his head, is the most popular person. Blanche's change is probably the result of actively adapting to changes in social climate. As far as her heart is concerned, nine times out of ten she is reluctant. Otherwise, she would not have been expelled from school for being ambiguous with the little boys.
Second, it was Stella's repeated remarks when she recalled Blanche's past with the soldiers—"Then the patrol car came and took them away like harvest daisies." Not "he", but "them". Lenovo to this day, the American soldiers have done all over the world, it is not difficult for us to imagine what happened between Blanche and these soldiers. But to whom did the insult fall? Stanley told Stella that he had heard that Blanche had been barred from entering the barracks next to Belliffe Manor. A good "no entry", as a spectator, we can hear very clearly, Stella said that every weekend, drunk soldiers broke into Bellive Manor to whistle and greet Blanche. The ban is clearly saying, "Blanche, you bad woman, don't seduce our good guy!" Turning black and white upside down, Blanche had a bad reputation as dark as ink, and the soldiers were as innocent and pure as daisies.
Now that it's already infamous, let's just blacken it to the end! Blanche probably thought so. In the play, she did not know when she changed into a black dress. On her birthday, she even put on a black dress and a crown on her head, like a proud, deceitful, and lascivious black swan. Or, as she told Stanley, she was a spider, a poisonous spider called the Black Widow, who used males as bait to strengthen herself. But she wasn't blackened enough, or rather, the high-class lady was still too naïve about the world. She thought she could conquer the world by conquering men, but she forgot that even if Cleopatra conquered Caesar and Antony, she still died at the hands of Octavian. What's more, the crown on her head was still a fake. This weapon is a double-edged sword, not enough strength and wrist, playing with it, the only harm can be done to yourself. So the same old story of more than a decade ago was repeated, and she was once again raped by a High American soldier, Stanley.
He Yi as Stanley
More than a decade apart, the setting of being raped twice by active or retired American soldiers is quite intriguing. In the movie The Da Vinci Code, Sir Timbin, played by Ian McLean, explains the military symbol "(Sword)" by saying that it symbolizes "a male phallus, and the more phallus the higher the rank". What is well known is that the military is the greatest organ of violence and the greatest organ of power. A woman like Blanche, no matter how much she resists, can only control the playthings of men who are violent and powerful.
So, wouldn't it be better if you didn't resist? Let's look at another member of the sisters' "control group", Stella.
If Blanche went from attachment to rebellion, Stella was the opposite. Her early years of running away from home can be seen as a form of rebellion, but in the end she became more attached to men than her sister Blanche. Stanley always said Blanche was a "canary," but wasn't Stella also a caged bird he kept in his house? She had no job and had to ask her husband Stanley for pocket money. She wanted her husband to get rid of his bad habits of alcoholism and gambling, but she repeatedly suffered domestic violence. But despite this, she did not leave. As long as Stanley whispered and begged her for forgiveness afterwards, saying a few words "I love you", the girl would forgive him. In today's terms, she has long been PUA. So, did she know there was a big problem in that? Of course she knew. But as if she knew that her sister had been raped by her husband, and she still pretended not to know, she had to continue to live with Stanley. Even when Blanche was thrown into the lunatic asylum by Stanley as if he were throwing garbage, she didn't stop it. She knew one thing very well, and that was that she wouldn't be alive without Stanley.
Throughout the play, Stanley is arguably the most concentrated representative of male power. He was big and powerful, and in this little kingdom with only two rooms, he was the king of the word. For this small kingdom, he had an extraordinary desire to control. Everything in the house, including people, was considered his private property. As he raped Blanche, he said: "This date is already doomed. "Dating," like the barracks' ban on Blanche, sounded grandiose and ugly. And when was "already doomed" and "early"? About the time Blanche stepped into the room, or as early as when he discovered that Blanche had lost the Belleiff Estate. He investigated Blanche's situation and past, probably not only because he was not accustomed to her pampering and arrogance, nor was he afraid that she would destroy his friendship, bring his wife bad, and encroach on his life, but he deliberately stripped her of her disguise so that he could swallow her into his stomach. It's as if a shrewd predator would force his prey into a dead corner and taste it slowly.
Wei Lai as Stella
In the play, Stella holds a bouquet of red and white roses and slowly crosses the stage, placing the roses in the toilet. Soon after, Blanche picked up the roses and sprinkled them on the rainy, leaf-strewn ground. This scene is very symbolic. The red and white rose is a symbol of Blanche, the Stella sisters and even all women, while the toilet symbolizes dirty desire. In this male-dominated world of desire, women either completely abandon their pride and fragrance and commit themselves to the filthy stench, or "zero into the mud and dust."
There's a lot more to explore, but for personal wellbeing, I don't want to continue writing about it. Finally, let's talk about something that makes people happy!
Regarding the highlights of this play, in addition to the plot and the acting skills of the actors, Stanley's actor He Yi's muscles, especially the mermaid line, are also very good.0
Also, give the audience a little hint of friendship. If you are going to the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center Drama Salon or other small theaters to watch this play, please be cautious about purchasing seats in the first row of plays.
First, the simulated rain on the stage of the water curtain and the water mist that emerges from time to time make the humidity in the theater somewhat high, coupled with the cold air conditioning, for the audience who are afraid of cold, unless they bring one more piece of clothing, they will sit in the first row somewhat.
Second, when Stanley is furious and lifts the table in the play, the tables full of knives, forks, cups and plates are often flying in the audience, and it is inevitable that sitting in the middle of the first row will inevitably be frightened. At least I was startled.
The knife that almost hit me in the knee and my mood at the time