Review: Scottish Ballet's A Streetcar Named Desire at HMT

The last place you’d expect to find yourself on a wet night in Aberdeen is the hot, humid dance halls of 1940s New Orleans.

But such is the power of Scottish Ballet’s latest production that it completely transports its audience into the simmering heat and pulsating sounds of the Deep South, conjured up in the imagination of Tennessee Williams and brought to the stage in all its sexual fury in this imaginative production.

Under the expert eye of the company’s artistic director, Christopher Hampson, A Streetcar Named Desire is choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, who draws on the world of classical ballet and blends steps with contemporary and Latin to create a wonderfully edgy piece.

Innovative direction by Nancy Meckler and stunning stage designs by Nicola Turner complete the picture.

The stage came alive at last night’s performance.

This is our ballet company as you’ve never seen them before – taking on the most demanding of roles and giving them an intensity that had us on the edge of our seat through every dramatic scene.

In the roles made famous on film by Hollywood greats Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, principal dancers Roseanna Leney and Evan Loudon are mesmerising, especially Leney in the central role of Blanche, making her utterly believable as she grows from young bride to grieving widow and then finally loses her dreams and her dignity as, abused and alone, she plunges into alcoholism in the final painful scenes which see her abandoned by love and hope and heading to an asylum.

Controversial subjects in A Streetcar Named Desire at HMT

This is no frothy ballet, as it tackles some controversial subjects and very broken characters, but the wedding waltz and changing family photographs used to show time passing do provide some lighter moments, as do a West Side Story-style Dance at the Gym and a scene in the bowling arcade, which was reminiscent of Grease.

The score and set was moving and added to the pivotal moments throughout.

The use of a 1940s radio recording of Paper Moon, which returned several times as Blanche remembered tender scenes with her sister, Stella, was so evocative.

The score by Peter Salem moves from piano and soaring strings to jazz honkytonk and double bass with ease, and use of whispered speech set the tension perfectly where it was needed.

A Streetcar Named Desire is breathtaking, powerful and beautiful and is a real treat for Scottish Ballet audiences.

It runs at His Majesty’s Theatre until Saturday, then visits Kirkwall from June 22-23 and Stornoway on June 29-30.