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A Streetcar Named Desire - One of the Greatest Plays Ever Written


Classic American drama returns to The Court Theatre’s stage in February.


A Streetcar Named Desire is an enduring masterpiece that has been performed time and time again all over the world,” says director Melanie Luckman. ”The 1951 film with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh is iconic. Other people I’ve talked to know the story from an episode of The Simpsons where it was turned into a musical called Oh Streetcar! It’s quite daunting and yet a real honour, to now be putting a Court Theatre stamp on such a superb piece of theatre. It’s a real gift for any director.”


The play dramatises the life of Blanche DuBois, a fading Southern belle, who comes to stay with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley, at their dilapidated apartment in New Orleans after losing the DuBois family’s estate in Mississippi. Friction grows between Blanche and Stanley with devastating consequences.


Director Melanie Luckman
Director Melanie Luckman

Streetcar is a classic for a reason. It says something universal about the human condition, about the core truths underlying the way human beings behave - in much the same way as Shakespearean drama does. That’s what makes the play exciting for an audience to watch and yet tough at the same time. It’s all so like real life. There are no perfect goodies, or baddies. It’s messy and people make mistakes, sometimes catastrophic ones.”


The set design by Julian Southgate is integral to this play. “I want it to be realistic, but at the same time it has to create an atmosphere. We need to be immersed in a hot, cramped, dirty, gritty and claustrophobic environment that very much contributes to what Blanche is feeling.”


Melanie has gathered together a very talented cast for her production. Claire Dougan plays Blanche, a role often referred to as “the Hamlet for women”; Amy Straker is Stella and former Shortland Street actor Chris Tempest plays Stanley. “I am very fortunate to have been able to build such a strong team, who all share the same vision for our production.”


A Streetcar Named Desire is on at The Court Theatre from 22 February – 14 March 2020. Don’t miss it. It’s one of the best and most critically successful plays of the 20th Century and has inspired many adaptations in other forms, including an opera and a ballet. You can learn more and book tickets here.


Cheryl Colley

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