'Streetcar' at home on China stage

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Among the urban dwellers in China are many women with good educations and cultural sensitivity, just like Blanche, the lead character in Streetcar.

Williams' play was written in 1947, and has become recognized as a modern classic of American literature. In the play Blanche, a former schoolteacher of English, moves in with her younger married sister, Stella, after losing their family home.

Blanche finds Stella's working-class husband, Stanley, loud and rough, while in return Stanley dislikes his sister-in-law. Yet Blanche stays on, and makes friends with Stanley's poker-game pal Mitch.

But the conflict between Blanche and Stanley escalates, as he digs out her scandalous history. The antagonism comes to a climax when Stanley rapes Blanche, leading to her psychotic crisis. Stella, who has just had a new baby, decides to live on with Stanley, and has Blanche sent away to a mental asylum.

One of the most famous plays of the 20th century, Streetcar was made into a movie in 1951, with Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando creating two of the most iconic figures in film history.

Wang found all the major characters in Streetcar to be misfits and insecure, just like many of the people in China now. To help audiences relate to the story and characters, he intentionally blurs the American background, and focuses on the fate and encounter of the characters.

Widely recognized as a theater classic, Streetcar has grown out of the rich soil of the realistic theater tradition in Europe, and "made a big step forward", resulting in extreme situations and multifaceted characters, says Wang.