One of the ballet folk I follow on twitter, @DaveTriesBallet, who also has a fab blog, mentioned that the Scottish Ballet were bringing A Streetcar Named Desire to Sadler's Wells. So once again I made a last minute decision to head up the road after work to watch the ballet and I'm very glad I did.
I have never seen Tennessee Williams' original screen play staring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando so I picked up the programme to get a heads up on the story. I love raw, stripped back sets and this set was just that series of boxes and crates in a black box contrasted with the ballet. Opening with a lone dancer, Blanche (Claire Robertson), reaching to a bare light bulb you realise that this is not going to be a light evening of dance. The ballet moves on in an ever darkening whirl as the people that Blanche loves leave her and she spirals down, increasingly losing herself.
There are some lighter moments, the New Orleans sections allow jazz elements to appear and the bowling scene is particularly fun, I still want one of the dresses from this scene. Talking about the costume, Niki Turner designing for the ballet for the first time did a fabulous job. The result? Costumes that you could imagine on the street and each character with a colour and hue of their own. Blanche's costume was particularly fascinating as she moved through the ballet she moved from pale white costumes through to shades of fuschia as she slowly descended into alcoholism and fantasy.
Throughout the ballet characters emerged from the background to fulfil their role and then as their part finishes they fall back into the corps. I liked the continual thread with Alan (Andrew Peasgod), Blanche's dead husband, appearing throughout the ballet as a reminder that this was where her life started to fall apart. there were a number of moving dances between Alan and Blanche and when a third party was involved it was as though they weren't really such was the connection between the two. I left A Streetcar Named Desire with a sense of loneliness. I felt sorry for Blanche but I wasn't sure I actually liked her, in fact I'm not sure I really liked any of the characters.
I did however love this ballet and I will be heading back to see more from the Scottish ballet. With Sadler's Wells just up the road from the office and a stack of vouchers for my birthday I'm looking forward to my next foray up the hill. My next ballet will be back at Covent Garden on Saturday for Ballo della Regina and La Sylphide.
I have never seen Tennessee Williams' original screen play staring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando so I picked up the programme to get a heads up on the story. I love raw, stripped back sets and this set was just that series of boxes and crates in a black box contrasted with the ballet. Opening with a lone dancer, Blanche (Claire Robertson), reaching to a bare light bulb you realise that this is not going to be a light evening of dance. The ballet moves on in an ever darkening whirl as the people that Blanche loves leave her and she spirals down, increasingly losing herself.
There are some lighter moments, the New Orleans sections allow jazz elements to appear and the bowling scene is particularly fun, I still want one of the dresses from this scene. Talking about the costume, Niki Turner designing for the ballet for the first time did a fabulous job. The result? Costumes that you could imagine on the street and each character with a colour and hue of their own. Blanche's costume was particularly fascinating as she moved through the ballet she moved from pale white costumes through to shades of fuschia as she slowly descended into alcoholism and fantasy.
Throughout the ballet characters emerged from the background to fulfil their role and then as their part finishes they fall back into the corps. I liked the continual thread with Alan (Andrew Peasgod), Blanche's dead husband, appearing throughout the ballet as a reminder that this was where her life started to fall apart. there were a number of moving dances between Alan and Blanche and when a third party was involved it was as though they weren't really such was the connection between the two. I left A Streetcar Named Desire with a sense of loneliness. I felt sorry for Blanche but I wasn't sure I actually liked her, in fact I'm not sure I really liked any of the characters.
I did however love this ballet and I will be heading back to see more from the Scottish ballet. With Sadler's Wells just up the road from the office and a stack of vouchers for my birthday I'm looking forward to my next foray up the hill. My next ballet will be back at Covent Garden on Saturday for Ballo della Regina and La Sylphide.
