Shakura Dickson’s Stella Kowalski simmers with heat and heart

What more is there to desire from A Streetcar Named Desire? As the summer heat takes hold, Soulpepper Theatre invites us to consider its characters and themes anew.

After an acclaimed, sold-out run in pre-pandemic 2019, Soulpepper’s solid, subtle and multi-layered production of the play has just been remounted. Long considered an apex moment in American theatre, Tennessee Williams’ 1947 tragedy delves into themes of class struggle, desire, delusion – and the violent collision of old and new values. The story follows the turbulent relationship between the pregnant Stella (Shakura Dickson) and her volatile husband Stanley (Mac Fyfe) – and what happens when her fragile sister Blanche (Amy Rutherford) arrives at their cramped New Orleans apartment, seeking refuge from debt and scandal. Tensions and tempers flare, ultimately disrupting the tenuous equilibrium of Stella’s life and Blanche’s psyche. 

As directed by Soulpepper’s Artistic Director Weyni Menghesa, this inspired interpretation is full of fresh angles on a play that is programmed with such frequency by theatre companies and high-school English classes that it has become weighted with audience preconceptions. A director with surprising insights into the works audiences think they know, Menghesa subverts most of these preconceptions, giving prominence to themes that make the play surprisingly current and widely relatable. By adding an extended musical element, she underscores the play’s setting of New Orleans, which is regarded as the birthplace of jazz. She also envisions Stella as the half-sister of faded Southern belle Blanche – and makes Stella Black, giving prominence to the diverse population of New Orleans. This also surfaces the story’s racial undertones – especially when Stella’s identity is juxtaposed with her husband’s Polish ancestry, which was denigrated per the anti-Polish sentiment of the time.

Dickson is garnering acclaim for her turn as this newly imagined Stella, whose emotional complexities she finds profoundly relatable. “What can I say about Stella!? I feel very close to her,” Dickson smiles.  Amplifying this sentiment, she explains that Stella “loves hard and has room in her heart for a lot of understanding. Sometimes to a fault. She’s able to accept the ones she loves most as they are, and meet them where they’re at.” Unlike Blanche, who is trying in vain to hold onto the values of her Southern heritage and the family home Belle Reve, Stella is a pragmatist making a viable life for herself in New Orleans. Dickson calls Stella “fiercely protective, compassionate, and an observer” who may not like conflict, but does not shy away from it when necessary. 

Saluting Menghesa’s “brilliant vision” in making the DuBois girls half-sisters, Dickson delights in “this yummy dynamic of at once being cut from the same cloth as Blanche, but also being able to really see Stanley and relate to his other-ness.” In this way, her Stella has a vibrant connection to Black culture: “In a lot of ways, Stella feels more at home in New Orleans ‘slumming’ it in [the Kowalskis’ street] Elysian Fields, because there she can just be who she is.” And with Stanley and Stella’s neighbours being Black folks, “we see that Stella has found her own place in the world where she can actually exhale that struggle of two worlds colliding within her. That is, until her sister arrives.”

For Dickson, Stella’s most poignant moments in the play center her unswerving loyalty. For instance, “There’s a moment where Stella says to Blanche, ‘I will go with you’.” To Dickson, this line epitomizes how Stella “has her sister’s back – no matter what – even in what seems like a hopeless situation. She is ride-or-die, sometimes to a fault. The issue, of course, is that she tries to be ride-or-die with two people at the same time. Two alphas in conflict”—and that is not possible. For this reason, Stella’s decision to stay with Stanley at play’s end is chilling, and its justification has been a long-standing source of debate. 

Reaching beyond the characters to discuss the enduring relevance of A Streetcar Named Desire, Dickson points immediately to its themes, which resonate with contemporary audiences. “I think the idea of class struggle is something we can all identify with these days. And for me, the (so-called) toxic love is what resonates. Between Stella and both Blanche and Stanley.” For the play famously explores binaries of class and power – with Blanche grasping for remnants of Old World gentility, while Stanley, a war veteran, identifies as a card-carrying member of the working class. “These are universal truths that hold up to this day, and I think a lot of people will see their own relationships reflected here. Tennessee Williams has brilliantly portrayed these big, big loves – and made it so human that it’s hard not to.”

Asked to identify what most sets this production apart, Dickson doesn’t mince words: “I think this production brings the heat! You can’t do Tennessee Williams right if you shy away from the sex, and we certainly do not! As well, Weyni has brilliantly included a live band that transports us to New Orleans every night. The jazz tempos linger throughout the piece and heat up the pressure cooker even more.”

From a personal perspective, the demands of realizing Stella as part of this volatile mix have helped her to plumb the depths of her own artistic capabilities. First, she discovered where she and Stella connect – and luckily, there were “so many connections!”  From that point, she offers “all credit” to Mengesha, whom she considers a personal mentor and friend: “She has pushed me to really dig deep.” She also credits fellow actors Amy Rutherford (Blanche) and Mac Fyfe (Stanley) as “absolute knock-outs who have held me up throughout this entire process”. 

Dickson is clearly a gifted performer, and her star is on a rapid rise. Since graduating from Sheridan College’s Music Theatre Performance program, she has solidified her reputation as a compelling and multifaceted artist who can move between intimate dramas and large-scale musicals with ease. Her diverse past roles include jazz icons Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Theatre Calgary) and Ella Fitzgerald in Billie, Sarah and Ella: Revolutionary Women in Jazz (Soulpepper) – the latter of which she will reprise in October.  She also showcased her versatility in ‘da Kink in My Hair (Soulpepper/TO Live) and, recently, as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland (Soulpepper and Bad Hats Theatre). Toronto audiences will also remember her as Alana in the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. 

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Dickson offers a remarkable and forthright authenticity. Caught between narcissists who vie to suck all of the oxygen from the room, her Stella navigates her fragile older sister’s anxious outbursts and her virile husband’s explosive violence. And Dickson assures us that her Stella is not a dupe, but a well-intentioned (if ineffective) mediator. “I’ve been surprised by Stella’s heart and mind,” she muses. “I think it’s easy to think of Stella as a co-dependent pushover, but really she’s just the opposite. She loves and accepts her big loves. But she also is not afraid to speak her mind.” Ultimately, her Stella is “tough and resilient and knows all too well how to handle Stanley and Blanche.”

Discover what that looks like in Soulpepper’s haunting revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, which continues until July 7, 2024.  Those of us who have seen this production know that it invites a return visit. For tickets, visit soulpepper.ca.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2024