Work: A Streetcar Named Desire

Ballet isn’t always pretty, there are plenty of examples in repertoires across the world. John Neumeier’s Streetcar Named Desire (Endstation Sehnsucht) is to reach another level of grim but gripping brutality told through dance.

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has created a masterpiece with her A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet.

It seemed strange to come out of the theatre humming “It’s Only a Paper Moon” when a few moments before there had been brutality, madness and a horrific rape scene on stage. But that 1933 song runs throughout the scenario of Scottish Ballet’s new production of A Streetcar named Desire – as it did in the original play – reminding of the difference between reality and dreaming.