 When the West End production of Streetcar opened in October 1949 , J. B. Priestley denounced the play and Leigh 's performance ; and the critic Kenneth Tynan , who was to make a habit of dismissing her stage performances , commented that Leigh was badly miscast because British actors were " too well @-@ bred to emote effectively on stage " . Olivier and Leigh were chagrined that part of the commercial success of the play lay in audience members attending to see what they believed would be a salacious story , rather than the Greek tragedy that they envisioned . The play also had strong supporters , among them Noël Coward , who described Leigh as " magnificent " . 
