A Streetcar Named Desire makes a dazzling return to Scotland
We’re delighted to announce that our hugely popular, award-winning production of A Streetcar Named Desire returns to Scotland for the first time since 2015! We will be touring to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness in 2023. Thanks to generous support from the Bently Foundation, we’ll be extending our tour to the Orkney Islands and Outer Hebrides too.
This astonishing take on Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece is narrative ballet at its very best, with stunning dance, devastating drama, pitch-perfect period design and a sizzling score used to tell the iconic story.
In steamy 1940s New Orleans, fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois moves into her sister Stella’s apartment. Stella’s brutish husband Stanley sees that Blanche is not what she appears to be, and sets out to destroy her…
Our stylish production breathes new life into the classic tale, with graceful waltzes at the DuBois family home, electrifying lindy jives in a Louisiana nightclub, and intense duets in the caged heat of Stella and Stanley’s apartment.
Choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and directed by Nancy Meckler, with set and costume designs by Niki Turner, and score by Peter Salem (The Crucible) performed live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.
We asked our dancers how they felt about the return of this dazzling production which was last performed in 2015:
I’m so excited to revisit Streetcar after such a long time. It was one of the first ballets we did when I joined the company – and a really memorable one. It’s a phenomenal piece of theatre. The storytelling ballets are always my favourite but A Streetcar Named Desire in particular is so beautifully done. There are some really fun jazzy scenes like “Bowling” juxtaposed with the much darker scenes of the play. It’s a really enjoyable piece to perform and so rewarding as it is always so well received.
Aisling Brangan, Soloist
A Streetcar Named Desire is presented through special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. The Scottish islands leg of the tour has been kindly supported by the Bently Foundation, to help increase Scottish Ballet’s reach to remote audiences, for the first time since our successful tour of Highland Fling in 2018. Alongside performances, the tour will enable the company to engage fully with regional communities, running workshops and classes with adults and children of all ages.
Audiences can enjoy this all-time favourite again or for the first time in Scotland.
★★★★★
a punchy and very grown-up piece of entertainment that does Williams’ masterpiece full justice, repeatedly tugging at the heart-strings even as it shreds the nerves.
The Telegraph
★★★★★
sensual and tragic
The Stage
★★★★★
a brilliant example of the contemporary narrative ballet
Arts Desk
★★★★★
A triumph… an electrifying, moving and deeply emotional ballet
All Edinburgh Theatre
