A Streetcar Named Desire review: Paul Mescal sizzles, Patsy Ferran amazes in 4-star revival

Two hours and 45 minutes with one intermission.At BAM, 651 Fulton Street in Brooklyn, through April 6.Audiences are boarding “A Streetcar Named Desire” — or, rather, a train called Q — in droves to experience “Gladiator II” star Paul Mescal onstage in Brooklyn. And, as brutish Stanley Kowalski, the part made famous by an early-career Marlon Brando, the 29-year-old Irishman does not disappoint. Mescal is a human wrecking ball as he snarls and barrels around the boxing-ring stage like it’s a sweaty tribal ritual.But while the crowd has come for Paul, at the end of Tennessee Williams’ classic play, which opened Tuesday night at BAM, they leave raving about Patsy.That’s Patsy Ferran, the unbelievable 35-year-old British actress who’s been lavished with acclaim in London for years, but is not yet well known stateside.

That ends today.Ferran, small and deceptively sweet, makes an unlikely — and perfect — Blanche DuBois in director Rebecca Frecknall’s superb revival from Britain.  Consider that the last celeb at BAM to tackle the part of the fading Southern belle who guzzles booze to numb her mysterious pain was the ever-intimidating Cate Blanchett.That celebrated Aussie actress defaults to Tár-ifying.Not Ferran’s Blanche.

Not at first, anyway.Like an exotic poisonous plant, she lures us in with a bubbly charm only to leave us paralyzed — in fear and pity.

That she looks the role’s actual thirtysomething age makes the character’s ruined life sadder than I’ve ever known it to be.Blanche, who grasps the old South’s dying chivalry as hard as she does a liquor bottle, has arrived in New Orleans to live in suffocatingly close quarters with her sister Stella (Anjana Vasan) and her rough-and-ready husband Stanley after she’s hit with money issues. Her problems, however, are much bigger than cashflow.Blanche is hiding dangerous secrets from her past that are hinted at by a graceful dancer (Jabez Sykes) who haunts her memories. Her...