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Story by Jack Foley |
FOR Hollywood, she developed an attraction which turned fatal, while on the London stage she is set to appear in A Streetcar Named Desire. Glenn Close, one of Tinseltown's leading ladies, has confirmed that she is to appear in Trevor Nunn's revival of the Tennessee Williams classic, playing the role of Blanche Dubois.
The eagerly anticipated production is scheduled to open on October 8, 2002, at the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre (previews begin on September 28) and will have a limited run, until November 23.
The actress will star alongside British stage veteran Iain Glen, who will take on the role of Stanley Kowalski.
A Streetcar Named Desire tells the story of Blanche DuBois, a faded
and fragile Southern belle, who arrives to visit her younger sister, Stella,
now living in a seedy district of New Orleans.
Blanche, who is nearing the end of a downhill path in her life, repeatedly
comes into confrontation with Stella's sexually aggressive husband, Stanley,
whose coarseness both offends and attracts her educated sensitivity. As jazz
from the local bars blares through the night, tensions rise to an inevitable
breaking point - much like another of Williams's recent revivals in the West
End, the excellent Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
(starring Brendan Fraser).
The play was written in 1947 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. It was turned into a film starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh and went on to win Oscars at the 1951 ceremony.
By taking on the role of Blanche, Close will be making her UK stage debut
but is no stranger to challenging roles, having secured international acclaim
and many awards in movies as diverse as the aforementioned Fatal Attraction,
The World According to Garp, The Natural, Jagged Edge, and Dangerous
Liaisons.
She has also appeared on Broadway in productions including Barnum, The
Real Thing (which won a Tony Award), The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs
(which attracted an Obie Award), and Death and the Maiden (another
Tony Award winner). However, she is probably best remembered, on stage, for
her performances in another Tony Award winner, Sunset Boulevard.
Glen, meanwhile, will also be making his National Theatre debut, despite
being no stranger to the West End. His recent stage credits include The
Blue Room, alongside Nicole Kidman at the Donmar, Martin Guerre and
the title role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Henry V.
On film, the actor had the dubious honour of appearing alongside Angelina
Jolie in last year's blockbuster Tomb Raider.
The production will mark something of a reunion for Close and director Nunn, who previously directed the star in the aforementioned Sunset Boulevard in both Los Angeles and New York. Nunn is currently the outgoing artistic director of the National.
