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“Cruelty … and Sweaty Intimacy”: The Reception of the Spanish Premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Philip C. Kolin
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Extract

The circumstances surrounding the national premieres of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire reflect not only the play's vibrant theatre life but also the particular culture that responded to it, validating past or anticipating future critical interpretations. Within two years of the Broadway (and world) premiere of Streetcar in December 1947, the play had been staged in Austria, Belgium, Holland, France (adapted by Jean Cocteau), Italy (with sets by Franco Zeffirelli), England (directed by Sir Laurence Olivier), Switzerland (with a translation by poet Berthold Viertel), and Sweden (directed by Ingmar Bergman). In March of 1950, Streetcar premiered in U.S.-occupied Germany, at Pfozheim. The premiere of the play in some of the former Communist Bloc countries followed in the 1950s or early 1960s. Streetcar opened on the same day—December 21, 1957—at Torun and Wroclaw (Breslau in pre-War Germany), Poland, and in Warsaw the subsequent April of 1958. The Czechoslovakian premiere of Streetcar was in November 1960 in Moravia and its Hungarian debut occurred shortly after.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , November 1994 , pp. 45 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1994

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References

1 For discussions of some of these Streetcar premieres see my “‘Affectionate and mighty regards from Vivien and me’: Sir Laurence Olivier's Letter to Tennessee Williams on the London Premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire,” Missouri Review 13, no. 3 (1991): 143–157Google Scholar and my “On a Trolley to the Cinema: Ingmar Bergman and the First Swedish Production of A Streetcar Named Desire,” South Carolina Review 26 (Fall 1994)—forthcomingGoogle Scholar.

2 See Wölter, Jurgen C., “The Cultural Context of A Streetcar Named Desire in German,” in Confronting Tennessee Williams's “A Streetcar Named Desire”: Essays in Critical Pluralism, ed. Kolin, Philip C. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993), 199–222Google Scholar.

3 See Kolin, Philip C., “The First Polish Production of A Streetcar Named Desire,” Theatre History Studies 12 (1992): 67–88Google Scholar.

4 See Kolin, Philip C., “The Mexican Premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire,” Mexican Studies 10 (Summer 1994)—forthcomingCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 “Williams' Snub Stirs Playgoers in Spain.” New York Times, “Amusements,” 12 12, 1949: 6.Google Scholar.

6 “Denies Madrid Story.” New York Times, “Amusements',” 12 23, 1949: 16Google Scholar.

7 Arango, E. Ramòn, The Spanish Political System: Franco's Legacy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978), 134Google Scholar.

8 Arango, 136.

9 1959 Yearbook, Britannica Book of the Year, 648.

10 1958 Yearbook, Britannica Book of the Year, 649.

11 Carr, Raymond and Aizpurua, Juan Pablo Fusi. Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy (London: George Allen, 1981), 127Google Scholar.

12 1961 Yearbook, Britannica Book of the Year, 652.

13 Carr and Aizpurua, 120–21.

14 Carr and Aizpurua, 129.

15 Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrad Europeo-Americana, Suplemento Anual 1959–1960. (Madrid: Escapasca-Calpe, SA, 1960)Google Scholar.

16 Carr and Aizpurua, 126.

17 The reviews I quote throughout this essay are: Nicolás González Ruiz, “‘Un tranvía llamado Deseo’ en el Reina Victoria,” YA, January 19, 1961, 27; Torrente, Gonzalo Ballestero, “Estreno De ‘Un tranvía llamado Deseo’ en el Reina Victoria,” Arriba, 01 19, 1961, 14Google Scholar; Asís, V. Fernández, “Teatro y cine: Reina Victoria: ‘Un tranvía llamado Deseo,’ de Tennessee Williams,” Pueblo, 01 20, 1961, 24Google Scholar; Baquero, Arcadio, “‘Un tranvía llamado Deseo,’ De Tennessee Williams, en el Reina Victoria,” El Alcazar, 01 19, 1961, 28Google Scholar; Marquerie, Alfredo, “Informaciones Teatrales y Cinematográficas: en el Reina Victoria se Estrenó ‘Un tranvía llamado Deseo’ de Tennessee Williams,” ABC, 01 19, 1961, 59Google Scholar.

18 Carr and Aizpurua, 120.

19 Carr and Aizpurua, 119–20.

20 Personal letter, August 26, 1993.

21 See Murphy, Brenda, Kazan and Williams: A Collaboration in the Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992), pp. 25–28Google Scholar. for a discussion of this key critical idea.

22 Tennessee Williams: A Bibliography, 2nd. ed. (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1991), 395Google Scholar; Llovet's translation was used in the most recent production of Streetcar in October 1993, directed by José Tamayo Rivas. I conclude below with a discussion of this production of Streetcar.

23 For a discussion of some of the major myths informing Streetcar, see Thompson, Judith J.. Tennessee Williams' Plays: Memory, Myth, and Symbol (New York: Peter Lang, 1987), pp. 25–51Google Scholar.

24 For biographical information about Asunción Sancho López I am indebted to Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana (Madrid: Escapasca-Calpe, SA) Suplemento Anual 1945–1948; 1953–1954; 1955–1956; 1957–1958; 1959–1960; 1960–1961Google Scholar; Casos, Fernando Vizcaino, Diccionario del Cine Español 1896–1965 (Madrid: Editorial Nacional, 1966)Google Scholar; and Quién es Quién en el Teatro y el Año Español e Hispanoamericano. (Barcelona: C.I.L.E.M., 1990), p. 817Google Scholar.

25 Hobson, Harold, “Miss Vivien Leigh,” Sunday Times [London], 11 13, 1949, 2Google Scholar.

26 Trewin, J.C., “Plays in Performance,” Drama 3, no. 15 (Winter 1949), 7Google Scholar.

27 William Kleb, “Marginalia: Streetcar, Williams, and Foucault,” in Confronting Tennessee Williams's “A Streetcar Named Desire”: Essays in Critical Pluralism, 37.

28 Bedient, Calvin, “There Are Lives That Desire Does Not Sustain: A Streetcar Named Desire.” In Confronting Tennessee Williams's “A Streetcar Named Desire”: Essays in Critical Pluralism. Ed. Kolin, Philip C. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993), 50Google Scholar.

29 See Kolin, “The Mexican Premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire.”

30 See Kolin, Philip C. and Arana, Auxiliadora, “An Interview with Wolf Rubinski: The First Mexican Stanley Kowalski,” Latin American Theatre Review 26, no. 2 (Spring 1993), 163Google Scholar.

31 “An Interview with Wolf Rubinski,” 159–60.

32 E[duardo] H[aro] T[eglen]. “Demasiados recuerdos.” [“Too Many Memories”], “Espectáculos,” El País, October 3, 1993: 31.

33 I happily thank the following individuals for their help as I researched this premiere of Streetcar: Dr. Thomas Middleton, Executive Secretary of the Comite Conjunto Hispano-Norteamericano; Everette E. Larson, Head, Reference Section of the Hispanic Division, Library of Congress; Senator Trent Lott and his assistant Brad Robinson; Sr. Don Alberto González Vergel; and Auxiliadora Arana for her expert assistance in translating Spanish reviews. But my greatest debt is to Sr. Don Carlos Miguel Suárez Radillo for his invaluable help in locating some very hard to find Spanish reviews and for his most cordial encouragement. I dedicate this article to Sr. Don Suárez Radillo. Que Dios lo bendiga inmensamente!