Stage: LAMTA stages Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire

Exciting news is LAMTA’s staging of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at Theatre on the Bay from August 14-24, 2024. LAMTA is the Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy. Direction is by Professor Chris Weare. Multi award winning actress Emily Child is the guest artist and takes on the role of Blanche DuBois. As a student at UCT, Child won her first Fleur du Cap Theatre Award and it is wonderful that she is working with LAMTA students in A Streetcar Named Desire- Williams’s most popular and performed work. Expect a beautiful production with design (set and costumes) by Niall Griffin. We must mention that LAMTA’s recent production sold out, so bookings adavised. Read on for more. Info as supplied.

LAMTA stages Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named at Theatre on the Bay from August 14, 2024

Following the sell-out success of Hollywood, LAMTA (Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy) announces A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams’ electrifying drama directed by the renowned Professor Chris Weare and starring guest artist Emily Child as Blanche DuBois. The production opens at Theatre on the Bay on August 14, 2024 for a ten-day season. 

Designer Niall Griffin’s costumes are a gorgeous reflection of the era and for Blanche in particular, he drew inspiration from vintage Dior while his sets reflect the rich architectural textures and finishes of New Orleans’ French Quarter of the 40s. The Pulitzer Prize-winning A Streetcar Named Desire, set in New Orleans in the 1940s, has been hailed as one of the best dramatic plays of the last century. In the lead role, Emily Child whose impressive career spans both stage and screen (Dinner with the 42’s, The Pervert Laura, Champ, Warrior, The Maze) will be joined by a talented line up of LAMTA  students. Playing opposite Child is Sarah Wolhuter as Stella, Dylan Janse van Rensburg (Spring Awakening, Hollywood, Vintage Jukebox) as Stanley, Jayden Dickson (Spring Awakening, Hollywood) as Mitch, Noa Duckitt (Spring Awakening, Hollywood) as Eunice and Ben Stannard (Spring Awakening) as Steve.

 A Streetcar Named Desire tells the story of Blanche, a fading Southern belle who, after losing the family home moves to the French Quarter in New Orleans to live with her sister Stella. In her thirties and now penniless, she is jittery, judgemental and duplicitous. She criticises Stella’s shabby flat and finds her husband Stanley to be uncouth. He in turn is suspicious of Blanche and overtly resents her presence and condescending manner. The playis a fineshowcase of Tennessee Williams’ mastery in the way it explores human emotions, complex characters and social consciousness.

A Streetcar Named Desire runs from August 14 to 24, 2024 from Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30pm with matinees on Saturdays at 2:30pm. Tickets cost from R180 to R220 through Webtickets and the Theatre on the Bay’s box office at 021 438 3300.   

✳ Featured image: Emily Child as Blanche DuBois in LAMTA’s production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at Theatre on the Bay from August 14-24, 2024. Photo by Claude Barnardo.