Fourblokes bring Streetcar to town

Ask Fourblokes director and performer Barry Taylor for an adjective to describe this theatre company's style and he has one word for it - Edgy.

The company was originally set up in 2005 to provide "professional drama at amateur prices". The aim is to to take on the straight plays - no musicals for Fourblokes - without being too elitist.

It obviously works - Fourblokes has won three best drama awards in the past four years. It also has the added mission of making productions accessible to students.

Barry is confident that the combination of Fourblokes and Tennessee Williams is one "not to be missed" - quite a bold statement given that A Streetcar Named Desire, its forthcoming production, is a notoriously tough nut to crack.

"It's probably our most ambitious production to date," says Barry.

Blanche DuBois is Sandy Lane's most challenging role to date

"Streetcar is testing everybody and it's almost like a roller-coaster ride... you've just got to get on with a Tennessee Williams play and go with it... you can't fight it, you've just got to go with it all the way.

"It's not an easy play and can be quite long. It runs at three hours in some productions but we've done some trimming - purely to get that kind of two-hour slot that modern audiences are used to."

Blanche DuBois, a fading Southern belle with a shady past, is forced by destitution to move in with her sister, Stella, in New Orleans.

There she meets Stanley, her powerful, violent brother-in-law who greets her with open hostility.

He is instrumental in her demise, although failing to do herself any favours is one of Blanche's strong points.

She's a complex character and not always a particularly nice one, according to Sandy Lane who takes on the role - and her biggest acting challenge so far: "She lies - all the way through the play - and it's basically because she doesn't want to face up to reality. She wants to live her life in fantasy.

"She drinks - again so that she doesn't have to face reality. She hates the fact that she's getting older - so much so that she dims the room's main light with a paper lampshade.

"She's been with lots of men, married young to a man who turned out to be homosexual and went on to shoot himself and, in the end, she goes completely insane!"

You can't take Streetcar lightly. You've got to get on, go with it, make it fresh and make it work for an audience in 2009 in the middle of Derby. Barry Taylor, Director

Sandy, 48, is keen to point out that she actually has little in common with Blanche! Getting into the character has involved a vast amount of research, though not every aspect of her character is alien to her: "I suppose I don't like getting old - facing up to the ageing process - so I can relate to that bit.

"But I feel sorry for her - very sorry.

"I'm hoping I'll make the audience feel sorry for her, too, through the numerous speeches I have to deliver as Blanche - and particularly near the beginning when she talks about marrying young. If I can deliver it well enough you'll feel sorry!

"She's desperate - but her lies turn on her. And when she gets found out everybody hates her - including the person she hopes she's going to marry."

It seems that at every turn there is another lie for Blanche to try to cover up, another drink to be had, another light to hide from. And, as a result, other characters in the play undergo some dark personality changes.

So is Sandy nervous about taking on such a huge role? "I think I'm finding it hard because this is my first major role and because the story is about me, my character.

"But I wanted to do it because it was a challenge and because I love the work that Fourblokes do.

Stanley and Stella will have their lives turned upside down when Blanche comes to town

"They do work to a very high standard and Baz is an excellent director - he allows you to work in such a way that you can give your opinion as well, it isn't just his."

Barry says he knew the play was right for Fourblokes as soon as he read it: "It's one hell of a production, it's edgy from the first moment. There are laughs but there's a kind of irony all the way through."

Previous productions from Fourblokes include John Godber's Bouncers and Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills - each of which won them one of their three NODA Best Drama awards.

A Streetcar Named Desire is on at the Guildhall, Derby , 17 - 20 November 2009.