Seoul Players take ‘Streetcar’ to capital

Seoul Players, the oldest English-speaking theater company in the city, will perform “A Streetcar Named Desire” beginning March 17.

Jason Stone, an artistic associate of Seoul Players and the director of the play, said “A Streetcar Named Desire” was one of the most pivotal plays of the American canon.

Set in the late 1940s, “A Streetcar Named Desire” deals with a cultural clash between Blanche, a spoiled belle of the Old South, and Stanley, a rising member of the industrial working class.

Blanche loses her inheritance and goes to New Orleans to stay with her sister. But Blanche’s social condescension earns her the immediate dislike of her sister’s husband, Stanley.

The play explores a changing America. Stanley, representing the new vibrant working-class America, has no time for Blanche’s social pretention, arrogance and distortion of the truth.

Stone wanted to direct the play to explore his options for his graduate studies in theater art, and chose “A Streetcar Named Desire” as his production for various reasons besides the play’s iconic status in American literature.

“I chose ‘Streetcar’ because it is a beautiful heartbreaking story. It is an extremely challenging text,” he said.

“It is very widely known and audience will have high expectations. I wanted to challenge myself, so that I could make a better informed decision about my future (regarding graduate studies in theater art), which is one of the play’s themes; how the choices we make and our personal integrity shape our futures.”

The play has been performed and numerously re-produced as movies or operas, but Stone wants to produce it in his own original way.

“I really wanted the challenge of finding my own interpretation of the story. I want to give them something new and fresh. Even the stage directions in the script are beautiful and poetic, but still leave room for change and growth,” Stone said.

He said he had stopped watching other productions to avoid inadvertent influence.

“I’ve chosen not to re-watch any of the film versions anymore,” Stone said.

“A lot of Western plays leading to this didn’t have the raw human aspect that this story brings. They were more thematic or plot driven. This play is one hundred percent character driven, and it’s really easy for the audience to invest emotionally in the story and characters.”

Stone also says that the play will be presented with full Korean subtitles and hopes that it will draw a larger than normal Korean audience.

Rehearsal space for the production was donated by Bar Carmen and the performance space by MoonNight, both of which are in Itaewon.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” will be Seoul Players’ first performance since its annual Ten Minute Play Festival in October, and first full-length performance since its production of “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg” a year ago.

The troupe has produced 15 full-length plays and numerous smaller scale performances and exhibitions since its foundation in 2001 by Australian businessman Roman Zolnierczyk.

Since its inception, Seoul Players has specialized in contemporary theater and musicals as well as experimental theater.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” will be performed at 8 p.m. on Saturdays and at 5 p.m. on Sundays between March 17 and April 1 at MoonNight in Itaewon. Tickets are priced at 15,000 won. Visit www.seoulplayers.com to for more information.

By John Lee (jlee17@heraldcorp.com)