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New Rep artistic director Rick Lombardo and his actress wife Rachel Harker work together on "Streetcar Named Desire."
Creative couple boards 'Streetcar'
By Francis Ma
Wed Sep 12, 2007, 11:43 AM EDT
Rachel Harker will be taking on her most challenging stage role this fall. She’ll have to be witty, coy, emotionally lost and a victim of rape.
“It’s draining, it’s exhausting, and I feel so lucky I can do it,” says Harker.
The character in question is Blanche DuBois, the tragic heroine in Tennessee Williams’ beautiful, poetic and savage “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which plays at the New Repertory Theatre at the Arsenal Theatre in Watertown now through Oct. 7.
This year is the 60th anniversary for the play that introduced Marlon Brando to the world, spawned countless revivals, and inspired Elaine on “Seinfeld” (and countless drunks) to try screaming “Stell-ahhh!”
And for Harker, the veteran actress who has worked in the local theater scene for more than a decade, it also marks the role of a lifetime.
“I’d say it’s the most challenging I’ve encountered,” says Harker. “It’s not just the number of words in the play — this woman never shuts up — but it’s the emotional state she goes in and out of. It’s just something that I’m approaching with a healthy respect.”
Blanche DuBois is one of the most coveted roles in theater, attracting the likes of Jessica Tandy, Vivien Leigh, and Marge Simpson to play her.
“We all have these powerful images floating around about the play,” says Harker. “When I knew I was going to do it, I read the play over and over again. By seeing the words on paper the film images started to fade away.”
She also had support from director/husband Rick Lombardo.
“He is a very collaborative artist, the kind of director that challenges an actor to do more,” says Harker. “There is no safe acting with him in the room.”
Thankfully, the two of them leave their professional relationship at the theater and reserve their home for “family and life stuff.”
Harker’s stable life is in stark contrast to Blanche, who’s a complete emotional wreck — a recent widow and a shamed educator even before the play begins.
The story opens with Blanche arriving in New Orleans to live with her sister, Stella, who is married to Stanley, the brute. The arrival of the southern belle creates tension and eventually initiates arguments, sarcastic jabs and violence.
“I think what makes this play a modern American classic is it’s about trying to survive in the world,” explains Harker. “It’s about family, the family dynamic, about love, loyalty and pressures of society. These are things people deal with everyday.”
Despite the emotional rollercoaster Blanche endures for most of the play, Harker sees the character as a survivor, even to the bitter end.
“I think she’s a very strong woman,” replies Harker. “I think she’s had some misfortunes. She’s emotionally fragile, but it’s because of everything that’s been heaped on her over the years. She’s not crazy. She’s not insane. She’s at the end of her rope…but it’s a really long rope.”
At the time of this interview, Harker was still coming down from an emotionally draining rehearsal.
“It was just after the big ‘Stella!’ moment,” says Harker. “It’s the next day and I’m trying to convince Stella to leave with me. It’s really intense and I’m still a little shaky after it so sorry if I sound a bit frazzled.”
But don’t be fooled. The play isn’t a complete downer filled with anguished wails, never-ending tears, and scenes of heartbreak (though all of that is in the play). Harker calls “Streetcar” more “moving” than anything else and that, and she says the characters find room to laugh.
And as for Blanche, Harker has hope for the character despite appearing defeated and spent at the play’s end.
“When Claire Bloom did the show [the 1974 revival in London], Tennessee Williams came out to see it and she asked him what he thought happened to Blanche at the end,” says Harker. “He said she was the first actress to ask him that and, after a moment, said that he thought that Blanche had affairs with a couple of the doctors in the asylum, got out and opened up a shop in New Orleans.”
