A streetcar named Stella

Here's something you might not know. I called my car Stella , not after the cheap Belgian beer but the character of the same name in the Tennessee Williams play, a street car named desire. 

I think I was imagining some scenario where the car might break down and it would be raining and I would drop to my knees shouting stellaaaaaa like the iconic scene from the movie. It's funny because I've never actually seen a streetcar named desire. 

That seems to be as good a segue as any to bring up the fact that tonight I am going to a national theatre live screening of a street car named desire. And all from the comfort of my local cinema. Just in case you're not familiar with national theatre live its part of an initiative to make the theatre more accessible by live streaming a number of plays into selected cinemas across Ireland and the UK. 

The odeon cinema in Waterford is part of it but unfortunately they show about 4 plays a year instead preferring to show the usual blockbusters and more operas and ballets ( live streamed) than you could ever wish to see. The cinema in Dungarvan shows a much better selection but I find the shows often fall on days when I'm working too late to feasibly make it down for seven pm. It's a very sad state of affairs indeed. 

 The only real downside to this is that it lasts from 7-10 which can make for a long night in the cinema but you do get a 30 minute interval in the middle whether you like it or not. National theatre live really is live so you have to take an interval when the real theatre audience do. Mostly that's fine provided you bring some snacks but there was one occasion when I went to see a lesser known Shakespeare play (or at least one I wasn't familiar with) in Dungarvan and it had all been a bit of a rush to get down there plus the cinema seats there are like proper theatre seats (all fancy and plush and the seats don't spring up when you stand up) anyway I found myself getting quite sleepy which only made the play harder to follow. 
Its around €15 a ticket which is not bad when you think that's the average ticket price for local productions and it's a fraction of what you'd pay to see it in the national theatre. Gillian Anderson (from the xfiles) has a leading role in tonight's production and the two other lead roles are being played by actors who have also had tv or movie work. So for your ticket price you get treated to stellar acting on brilliantly designed sets and very well directed. I think if it wasn't for the likes of National Theatre Live, I'd never get to see theatre like this. Certainly not on my wages so long as I'm stationed in Waterford so I am very grateful to whomever started this up.

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