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Janet Etuk

A Streetcar Named Desire (Almeida Theatre)

March 15, 2025

Even though the director, Rebecca Frecknall, honors most of the play’s dialogue, Blanche’s heartbreaking confession scene with Mitch (Dwane Walcott), her suitor, revealing the sad roots of her dysfunctional life, is truncated by several meaningful words; also, the play as written ends with the men arguing over a poker game as Stella quietly mourns in the arms of her landlady, Eunice (Janet Etuk, excellent).  Here it is Stella’s mournful cries that bring the curtain down, distorting Williams’ message. [more]

LOVE

March 6, 2023

Alexander Zeldin’s "LOVE" seems much longer than it actually is due to much silence and the reenactment of everyday tasks usually skipped onstage in plays. There is little dialogue and what there is tends to be rather ordinary talk about daily living. The play mainly works as a sort of experiment in the way that the Federal Theatre Project dramatized burning issues in the 1930’s. However, the play is a valuable record of life in a shelter using a documentary approach so real that it makes us feel like voyeurs. While the title remains unexplained, by the end each of the adult characters get to say it as a reminder that they have the backs of the others. [more]