The Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal is leaning toward me with quiet intensity.
Mescal is talking about the role hes most proud of.
Angelina Jolie came to see it.
STANLEY MUGPaul Mescal leads the classic Tennessee Williams revival, opening February 28 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Connor McKnight shirt. Photographed by Andrew Jacobs. Fashion Editor: Harry Lambert.Vogue, March 2025.
Nicole Kidman loved it so much she visited Mescal backstage.
(I was in my underwear for that entire exchange, he says, cringing.)
I was like, Oh, fuck, thats the first time thats happened!
WAISTED YOUTH“You can’t hide,” says Mescal ofStreetcar’s intimate staging. “It’s cathartic.” Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello pants and shirt.
Mescal, when I speak to him, is clearly delighted to be in rehearsals.
I love the characters.
I find it dangerous.
SISTER ACTAnjana Vasan (in an Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood dress) and Patsy Ferran (in Prada) play the siblings Stella and Blanche DuBois. “When you’re in it, you feel alive,” Vasan says of the play.
I think its sexy, he says.
WAISTED YOUTHYou cant hide, says Mescal ofStreetcars intimate staging.
Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello pants and shirt.
TIE FIGHTERMescal wears Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.
Streetcaris one of a trilogy of stripped-back Williams plays Frecknall has developed.
First, there was her Almeida production ofSummer and Smoke,for which Ferran won an Olivier.
Most recently Frecknall took onCat on a Hot Tin Roof,led by Mescals former costar Daisy Edgar-Jones.
(Mescal was jealous when he saw it.)
Yes, Stanleys needs for truth and respect bristle against the fragile delusion and snobbery Blanche protects herself with.
But this production feels more intimate, more empatheticfairer to its antiheroine.
This is not about watching the demise of someone with mental illness, Frecknall tells me.
This is about watching someone who has survived great trauma since childhood.
The cast are in their 20s and 30s, as Williams wrote them.
Blanche is often done with actors further into their career.
And I loved the idea of reclaiming her youth, says Frecknall.
You cant hide, Mescal says.
Youre totally exposed in a way thats both frightening and exciting.
And the audience feels that.
Perhaps its from this pressure that Mescals terrifying Stanley grew.
Its cathartic, he says of the role which sees him yell, howl, and prowl the stage.
I think weve all got rage in us.
And I think sometimes mine can be pretty close to the surface.
Frecknall recalls a workshop where Mescal got down on all fours like a dog, snarling at Blanche.
I remember going, Thats the scariest thing Ive ever seen, she says.
Still, its Mescals vulnerability that led her to cast him.
(I dont feel like Im playing a villain, he says.
Hes as hurt as Connell.)
People think ofStreetcaras a play about Blanche and Stanley, Frecknall explains.
They have a history together as actors and as friends, and you feel that.
Frecknalls right: Theyre so close they finish each others sentences, sometimes gently correcting each others modesty.
(She had a record!
insists Ferran, when her costar tries to downplay a folk music side project.)
She was a reluctant Blanche.
Frecknall was determined though.
I was allowed to fail by coming in so late.
If Ferrans Blanche is more sympathetic than most, Vasans Stella has more fight.
Wed do interviews, and people would be like, So Stella, shes just really passive, right?
She tucks her bob behind her ears as if she needs to concentrate for a minute.
Im like,Wherein the play?
When youre in it, you feel alive, Vasan says of the play.
(Its a friends that I stole, he tells me, with a giveaway grin.)
TheStreetcartransfers come at what, from the outside, looks like a crux point his career.
What about feral reactions from fans at the stage door?
Is he ready for that attention in Brooklyn?
I forget about it until its happening.
Its an amazing privilege, he says, fiddling with his gold chain.
Peoplehavetaken it too far, he adds.
Like the woman who touched him inappropriately outside the Almeida during the first run.
Back then he felt nervous about complaining; now hes better at setting boundaries.
If somebody touches you inappropriately, youre totally within your right to be like, Stop fucking doing that.
But in general he finds doing theater settling, he says.
Whatever the case, Its a fantastic escape, he says.
(Its weird and uncomfortable and brilliant.)
The structures useful too, as hes trying to drink less.
Last year he came to New York to shoot the historical queer romanceThe History of Soundalongside Josh OConnor.
The film is tragic but beautiful.
Upcoming, too, is the screen adaptation ofHamnetwhere hell star as William Shakespeare alongside the fearless Jessie Buckley.
Vasans and Ferrans careers are cranking up as well.
The former is now beloved in TVsWe Are Lady Parts,a comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band.
The latter will appear as Jane Austen inMiss Austen,a BBC miniseries of the Gill Hornby novel.
TIE FIGHTERMescal wears Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.
In the meantime, the trio are excited to be reunited onstage again.
Not many people get a chance to do Tennessee Williams, says Vasan.
I think theres a thing that Williams can achieve, she adds.
When youre in it, you feel more alive.
Thats how I want people to leave.
In this story: hair, Mari Ohashi; makeup, Niamh Quinn; grooming, Victoria Bond.
Produced by Holmes Production.
Set Design: Samuel Pidgen.
