Warning: this post is really quite earnest, proceed with caution!

When I was in secondary school, English was my favourite subject. No more so than in my final year when there were only 4 of us in our Advanced Higher class. I wrote my project on Shakespeare plays and we studied the work of Sylvia Plath and Tennessee Williams – the highlight of which being A Streetcar Named Desire. We had a lot of fun reading the play together in class, and making up silly inside jokes as a group (that have somehow still managed to stick around, if only every now and then).

Not long after I finished school, one of my favourite dance companies revived their ballet version of Streetcar, which our beloved English teacher had raved about, so of course I had to go see it. My sister and I were in awe and looking back at some of my tweets then I cringe a little at how much of a simp I was for the production but it was the best ballets I had seen at that point. I could see so clearly the choices the creative team had made in reference to the original text and the ways they had made it unique for the form. I was so in love with it that I forked out to buy the t-shirt and a poster so I could remember it, which hung on my wall among other frames while I was at uni.

Cut to 6 years and a degree later and I get a job working for the ballet which was a dream in itself, and then, I find out that they’re finally planning to bring Streetcar back in the spring of 2023 – I was buzzing! What a full circle moment, and only 8 years in the making. For the last few months, I’ve been managing the marketing campaign for the tour and somehow finding ways to shout about how amazing it is, and why people should see it, hasn’t been that hard for me (lol).

Last week we opened in Glasgow with a packed audience and I finally got to see it again. I’m glad to say that it still impresses, moves and stuns me as much as I remember that it did. In fact, I think this cast might be even better. To get specific about why I love SB’s Streetcar so much; the choreography is gorgeous and so varied in dance style, it’s nice to see the fun jazz and swing sections within a show that also has such depth, mixing that choreography with the intensity of acting that is required from a story like this just brings it to another level. The design is stripped back yet so effective and the blocks that make up Belle Reve take my breath away when they move. The music feels classic, yet modern, it’s respectively lively and disturbing and pulls everything together. The performances the dancers give are just breathtaking. I’ve seen a lot of dance and theatre since 2015 but glad to say that Streetcar still stacks up as one of my all-time favourites.

I think that’s enough of me being a massive fangirl for my own company but in conclusion, I’m very grateful to be working on one of my favourite things.