Liv Ullmann Chats About Blanchett and Blanche with NY Post

Frank Scheck of the New York Post has an interview up today on the Post's web site with the legendary Liv Ullmann, in which she talks about directing Cate Blanchett in one of the greatest parts of all time (and one of the few that Ullmann herself would have liked to play and never did.) Click here to read the full story about the production which comes to Brooklyn starting on Friday. 

In a special winter presentation, Sydney Theatre Company returns to BAM with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by renowned actor/director/writer Liv Ullmann and featuring Academy Award-winning actress/Sydney Theatre Company Co-Artistic Director Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois, Joel Edgerton at Stanley Kowalski, Robin McLeavey as Stella Kowalski, and Tim Richards as Mitch. The production marks Liv Ullmann's U.S. directorial debut and Blanchett's second BAM engagement-following her acclaimed performance in Sydney Theatre Company's Hedda Gabler (2006 Spring Season). The production will run from November 27- through December 20.

'A Streetcar Named Desire' is the story of the determined, yet fragile, repressed and delicate Blanche DuBois, set in the New Orleans apartment of her sister, Stella, and animalistic brother-in-law, Stanley. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play opened on Broadway in New York in 1947 and guaranteed Williams' status as one of the major American Playwrights.

The presentation of Streetcar in America marks U.S. directorial debut of Liv Ullmann and features set design by Ralph Myers, costume design by Tess Schofield, lighting design by Nick Schlieper, and sound design by Paul Charlier.

The production will play the BAM Harvey Theater, Nov 27 and 28, Dec 1, 2, 3**, 4, 5, 8-12, 15-19 at 7:30pm; Nov 28, Dec 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, and 19 at 2pm; Nov 29, Dec 6, 13, and 20 at 3pm. Tickets are $30, $65, $95 (Tues-Thurs); $40, $80, $120 (Fri-Sun) and can be purchased by calling 718.636.4100 or by visiting BAM.org (**A Streetcar Named Desire: Belle Rêve Gala, performance begins at 8pm)

As previously reported,  'A Streetcar Named Desire' will play Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center from October 29 - November 21, Tuesday through Saturday evenings in the Eisenhower Theater at 7:30 PM. Beginning November 1, matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoons will run at 1:30 PM. Tickets from $25 to $90 are on sale beginning August 12, 2009 and will be available for purchase at the Kennedy Center box office, on the Kennedy Center website at
www.kennedy-center.org, or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324.

For more information, please visit the Kennedy Center website at www.kennedy-center.org

Along with her husband Andrew Upton, Cate Blanchett has been Co-Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company since January 2008. For the Company, she has previously performed in 'The War of the Roses', 'Hedda Gabler', 'Sweet Phoebe', 'Kafka Dances', 'Top Girls' and 'Oleanna', and has directed 'The Year of Magical Thinking', 'Blackbird' and 'A Kind of Alaska'. Other theater credits include productions with the Almeida, London, Company B, and Griffin.

Liv Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and director, who rose to fame as the lead in 9 Igmar Bergman films. Ullmann has appeared on the stage and in movies all over the world. She has been nominated twice for an Academy Award and five years in a row the National Board of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle named her the best film actress in the world. Ullmann made her Broadway debut as Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House in 1975 and has since starred on Broadway in Ghosts, I Remember Mama and Anna Christie.  She has also appeared multiple times in London's West End, in Scandinavia, in Los Angeles and in Sydney in 1979 with Cocteau's The Human Voice. She has directed three feature movies and one short film, two of which were written by Ingmar Bergman. 

The Wall Street Journal is the Presenting Sponsor of A Streetcar Named Desire