Theatre Review: Mrs Stein’s Englisch Gk 12 in the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
In the end of 2010 our English class visited the “Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus” to watch the drama “A Streetcar Named Desire”, which is called “Endstation Sehnsucht” in German. We went there after we had read the drama in the English lessons.
The story is about a couple, Stella und Stanley Kowalski, and the unexpected arrival of Blanche DuBois, who is Stella’s sister. She is kind of crazy and she disturbs the relationship of Stella und Stanley.
The director Stephan Rottkamp worked closely on the drama of Tennessee Williams. The stage design is spartan. That symbolises the poor situation of the couple. Two mattresses, beddings, a few crates of beer, two glasses, a radio, cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey were placed on stage. In general, the stage shows the flat of Stella and Stanley. It is painted in grey – this colour creates a very depressive atmosphere. The rain – coming down again and again! – contributed to the negative mood. Imagine, the actors were wet throughout the whole performance – we wonder if they got a cold after that…
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| Bildquelle: www.duesseldorfer-schauspielhaus.de |
Altogether the actors acted quite well. We especially liked the poker scene, because it demonstrated Stanley’s impulsive and powerful behaviour in a very good way. This is the most important scene, because after this the plot changes completely.
The madness of Blanche is shown in the scene, when it is her birthday and she wants to tell a joke. But she laughs so much, that she starts the joke nearly twenty times. We think, on the one hand, this behaviour was very nerve-racking for the audience, but on the other hand it made clear Blanche’s mental illness.
Stella is addicted to her husband, because of their intensive sexual relationship. She is so dependent on him that she comes back to Stanley after he has beaten her up – unbelievable!
All in all, the actors act well and convincing, but we don’t really like the story, so we can’t fully enjoy it. But in general, doing a theatre trip with our class is a lot of fun!
Hannah Becker, Kolja Lenz, Martin Kaufmann, Niklas Tintelott und Sara von Bartenwerffer
