Review: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Presented by Scottish Ballet, A Streetcar Named Desire is based on the classic play by Tennessee Williams and choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. The ballet is directed by Nancy Meckler and accompanied by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra with music and sound design by Peter Salem.

Opening against the backdrop of an Antebellum home, Blanche (Marge Hendrick) marries her sweetheart Alan (Javier Andreu). When she catches him having an affair, she rejects him and Alan takes his own life. Blanche's sister Stella (Bethany Kingsley-Garner) leaves the family home for the bright lights of New Orleans and meets factory worker Stanley (Ryoichi Hirano).

The storytelling in A Streetcar Named Desire is extremely accessible and the decline of the wider family due to illness and financial problems is clear. Blanche has developed a dependence on alcohol due to these issues and heads to her sister's home in the big city.

The staging of the ballet is extremely impressive, the collapsed house is made of crates which are transformed into the train that takes Blanche to New Orleans and repurposed to make living spaces and beds. Every single move onstage has a purpose. Unlike other productions of this story I have seen, Scottish Ballet takes the opportunity to use different locations for each scene. Where a poker night has been discussed in the playtext, we get to see it along with glitz and the glamour of the big easy with Nicola Turner's impeccable design.

There are content warnings on the production, one, in particular, referring to sexual violence. The beauty of the dance makes this act almost seem even more brutal. Not to end on too distressing a note, Blanche descends into a world of fantasy as she is committed to a psychiatric facility after her sister sides with her assailant.

A Streetcar Named Desire is the epitome of the quality that we are blessed to have from Scottish Ballet. A visual delight from start to finish, this is an innovative and emotive production of a classic story.

Photo credit: Andy Ross

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