Street Car Named Desire Ballet

I happened to see in the paper that at Sadlers Wells there was going to be a performance of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' by the Scottish Ballet.  Having previously studied the Play by Tennessee Williams' for a design project during my first year at uni i was curious to see how it could be translated into a ballet or dance piece.  Mainly due to the dark content of it as it is not the happiest of plays with scenes of domestic violence, abuse and rape. 

Directed by Nancy Meckler
Choreographer: Annabelle Lapez Ochoa
Music: Peter Salem

As i said previously i was curious to see how it would fit into a Ballet.  The director of the play had previously directed the theatre show so it was good to watch something that was familiar to the directer in a non dance  way.  She said in the programme that her challenge was to create a 'wordy' play in to a wordless ballet through movements.

I really enjoyed the ballet, everything about it was brilliant.  The staging, very simple, but reflects New Orleans well.  The costumes were beautiful,  Blanche at the beginning appears in a stunning white dress, that move beautifully with the dancer.  It had a very full skirt, similar to the romantic tutu but to look 1950s.  This worked so well.  From the programme the designer Niki Turner said she worked with the cutters and makers to adapt the patterns to fit the dancers and create more room for movement.  This is something we are learning through adapting a basic sleeve block into a ballet sleeve.  I think it is nice to see modern day or 50s style dress on men and women but adapted for the dance style.

The dance was brilliant too, a mixture of jazz, ballroom, contemporary and ballet all mixed into one created such an dynamic piece.  The music was original and was again mixture of Jazz and 50s style singing.  This worked so well with the dance and the play which is set in New Orleans French Quarter, Jazz area.

The Ballet even though very dark did this so well in movements that the shock was there but it wasn't ucomfortable like it could have been in the play.

I really liked this new type of ballet that is emerging not just with the Scottish Ballet but with Matthew Bournes pieces as well.  They really tell a story and have a theatrical piece that you forget there is no dialogue.