Oscar Winner Blanchett Will Star in Streetcar Down Under

By Andrew Gans
and Ernio Hernandez
09 Mar 2008

Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett

Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, who received two additional Oscar nominations this past season (for her performances in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and "I'm Not There"), will star in a production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in Australia.

Blanchett, Variety reports, will play Blanche DuBois in an August 2009 production at the Sydney Theatre Company. Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton became the new artistic directors of the company at the end of 2007.

Two-time Oscar nominee Liv Ullmann will direct the Williams classic. No other productions have been announced for the 2009 season.

A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in Dec. 1947, playing 855 performances before closing in Dec. 1949. Directed by Elia Kazan, the original company boasted Jessica Tandy as Blanche, Marlon Brando as Stanley and Kim Hunter as Stella. The most recent Broadway revival — in 2005 at Studio 54 — starred John C. Reilly, Natasha Richardson and Amy Ryan.

Cate Blanchett won the Academy Award for her performance in "The Aviator"; she was also Oscar-nominated for her work in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "I'm Not There," "Notes on a Scandal" and "Elizabeth." The actress starred in Hedda Gabler at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music, and her acting credits at the Syndey Theatre Company include productions of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances and David Mamet's Oleanna. Blanchett also appeared on the London stage in David Hare's Plenty.
As previously announced, the 2008 season at the Sydney Theatre Company follows:

  • David Hare's The Vertical Hour (Now through March 22, 2008)
    Julian Meyrick directs Victoria Longley and Pip Miller.

  • Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking (March 25-May 4, 2008) Blanchett directs Robyn Nevin.

  • Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll (April 11-May 10, 2008)
    Simon Phillips directs Genevieve Picot and William Zappa.

  • Daniel Keene's The Serpent's Teeth (April 19-May 24, 2008)
    Pamela Rabe and Tim Maddock directs the STC Actors Company.

  • Tony McNamara's The Great (May 31-July 13, 2008)
    Peter Evans directs Ben Guerens, Robin McLeavy and Toby Schmitz.

  • Nigel Jamieson's Gallipoli (July 25-Aug. 23, 2008)
    Jamieson directs the STC Actors Company and third year acting students of NIDA.

  • Stephen Carleton's The Narcissist (Aug. 28-Oct. 4, 2008)
    Ian Lawson directs Jonathan Brand, Sandro Colarelli, Judy Hainsworth, Andrea Moor and James Stewart.

  • Barrie Kosky and Tom Wright's The Women of Troy (Sept. 16-Oct. 19, 2008)
    (adapted from the Euripides play)
    Kosky directs Melita Jurisic and Robyn Nevin.

  • Stephen Jeffreys' The Convict's Opera (Sept. 20-Oct. 25, 2008)
    (adapted from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera)
    Max Stafford-Clark directs Noni Hazlehurst. Felix Cross composes.

  • John Doyle's Pig Iron People (Oct. 27-Nov. 29, 2008)
    Max Cullen appears.

  • Nina Raine's Rabbit (Nov. 22, 2008-Jan. 4, 2009)
    Brendan Cowell directs Toby Schmitz.

    Available as an add-on for the season are:

  • William Shakespeare's The War of the Roses Part 1 (Jan 5-Feb. 14, 2009)
  • William Shakespeare's The War of the Roses Part 2 (Jan. 6-Feb. 14, 2009)
    (Adapted by Tom Wright and Benedict Andrews)
    Andrews directs the STC Actors Company and Cate Blanchett.

    For more information visit sydneytheatre.com.au.