Theater ‘Kowalski’ reimagines Brando’s charged audition for Tennessee Williams
7 / 10
Ostrin takes his cue from Streetcar‘s tragic heroine, Blanche DuBois, who famously insisted, “I don’t want realism. I want magic.” Kowalski‘s deliberately artificial set-up makes Brando a far more crafty and underhanded man who goes to unexpected lengths to land the job; it also sometimes reduces many of the other players, including Williams himself, to caricatures in service of Brando’s ambition. Still, there are some effective moments, particularly in the way Ostrin orchestrates scenes that mirror key episodes in Streetcar — like Flynn-as-Brando’s version of the plaintive cry “Stella!” to his wounded lover. Kowalski offers a vision of the past that strays far from the shadows of the real, but ultimately settles for legerdemain rather than pure magic.
