Video: Paul Mescal and Company Celebrate Opening Night of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

It's a dream come true

Drama school, in my mind, didn't feel like all that long ago

We're doing an American classic in the Lions Den. It feels... If I could have drawn this out to happen in my career

I kind of would have been over the moon. So the fact that we're here doing it now

it really is and sounds maybe overly sincere, but it is a dream come true, yeah

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World, following a critically acclaimed sold-out run in London's West End

Rebecca Frecknell's Olivier Award-winning production of Tennessee Williams' classic, a street car named Desire, has come to BAM

And we're here on Openy Night to celebrate with the company, led by Paul Meskell

It's really exciting, and I think this is our fourth time mounting this production over two years

And it will be our last time that we do it, and it feels so exciting to be here and in this space doing it

and all with the original company of actors. and it just feels like a space

the Harvey at Bam feels like it's really akin to the Almada where the production was originally born

They kind of feel like sister spaces to me. They feel like they've got so much history

and so much poetry within them. So the production just sits here really effortlessly

and we're really thrilled to be able to bring this to New York. There's such muscularity to his writing

but such poetry as well. And I just think no one writes like him and the way that he conjures worlds is just so painfully beautiful

So it's just wonderful to go. get to revel in the text and to work with these brilliant actors on bringing out all the detail and the beauty And there a quiet profundity to his work I think he really speaks to the human condition And you really feel his soul in the room as well So it really important I think to conjure those things for a new audience

to just, like, show them how brilliantly talented these writers are from this era

Sharing the stage with this incredible company of actors. Tell me why that's been like

I mean, I would be surprised if I ever got to work with a company as great as this

like the rest of my life. We've been in and out of each other's lives for two years

I think we really feel the benefit of that time. It's an incredible experience

not one that I think any of us have had where we've been thinking and percolating on this play for two years

So it allows us to go into an opening night with full confidence, like whatever people say about it

this is, I think, the best iteration of this production that we have done as a company

Not the best, like, you know what I mean? Like the four places that we've played it, I feel like we're finishing it with a bang

where we know these characters. much better than we did when we first started in the Almeida

They're extraordinary actors, Ange, Patz, Dwayne, like real theatre animals who can just turn a play on a diamond

and their choices with the characters are endlessly thrilling to me. And sometimes it's difficult to be within it

because you're watching people, I think, at the peak of their powers. And we collectively just love each other

So it's a great experience. It's a weird position to be in because I've always..

I am an actor Like I not doing this to kind of gain credibility in terms of anything It just this is one of the great plays I want to do it But it is inspiring to me to see a younger audience

coming out because I said to somebody further down the line that I think it validates your

opinion as a young creative if you're seeing people from your demographic around you. And look

theatre has always been something that is skewed older. So as long as I'm doing plays, which I

like I think whatever happens my career will always return to the stage

and hopefully be able to announce something sooner rather than later but it's a play

I just adore being on stage and as you said bringing a younger audience

has been incredibly inspiring to me because it means that something something is working in the work

that I'm making that people want to come and see it which is great this is the best company in the world

I look forward to going on stage every single night. Confession, I don't always love performing

I love rehearsals and I love plays and I love process. But stay performing in front of an audience is something I somewhat tolerate

And then cut to doing this. I look forward to doing it every single night because this is the most amazing company

Paul, Anjana, the whole ensemble, they're so talented, so playful. and we love each other, so we feel safe

And it's just a joy. I'm pinching myself. I can believe we doing a great American play a bunch of Brits over here attempting your greatest play And what a beautiful play And what a beautiful theatre to be opening in It a privilege

And talking about working with your director. Rebecca Franklin. This is my second time working with Rebecca

And I first worked with her when she was an assistant director. And I always knew she had something

And I always knew that she was going to do this play one day. So it was like a really full circle moment for me when she asked me to be a part of it

I just knew that this was a play that she was going to explore one day

It's been really exciting because I think quite a lot of young people are coming in to see these actors and be in the room with them

And what we've found is people are coming to see Paul or to see Anjana or Pazzi

and they're discovering the play. And so actually the real star is Tennessee Williams

And that's really exciting to me because I really, you know, as you say, we all remember that first time where you saw something

and it just captured your imagination and your heart in that moment and maybe people are then going to go on to, you know

whether or not they have careers in the theatre, it doesn't matter, but I do think live theatre just has the capability to change people's lives

And so I think it's really brilliant that people, particularly, you know, movie actors and people that do a lot of screenwork

that they still come back to the live experience because it does bring the next generation in

because there's an excitement about seeing these people do it for real

and spending that time with them for real in the room and really going on that journey and seeing that they really have that craft to do that

and these guys really have that craft to do that. But you then get to discover new world

that you wouldn't have, you know, you wouldn't have gone to see necessarily. So it has been amazing

It's been galvanising, like, a really young crowd who are really falling in love with the writing as well

which is kind of amazing. And I hope they come back and see other classics for it