Explosive, passionate, and heartrending, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is modern American theatre at its best. When fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois arrives on the doorstep of her sister Stella’s apartment building in New Orleans, she is unwittingly entering a lion’s den. Wounded by romantic abuses, loss, and dangerous mistakes, Blanche prefers her world kept in dim, flattering light, fuzzy at the edges. She is shocked by Stella’s simple existence, her new low-class habits, and most of all, her crude, simple husband, Stanley. Stanley is fierce and unpredictable, moving from violence to softness in an instant, and he and Blanche begin a cruel, sadistic dance where the only possible end is pain. With his signature poetic prose, muggy Southern Gothic setting, and psychological insight. Tennessee Williams’ mighty play, and his troubled, eccentric heroine, unravel before our very eyes.

The reason Alyque chose this play, is because of the relevance of this play to Indian audiences. This play is about the deep south of US, who are, like Indians, traditional in their approach to caste, culture and status.

This plot also works to address social concerns of Feminism: Women being treated as property, Mental Health, Domestic Violence, Rape, and Toxic Masculinity. This play works at many levels. It is strong, poignant, emotional, and arouses different emotions in the viewer.

The cast was a star studded line up, including theatre greats like Sabira Merchant, Farrokh Mehta, Dalip Tahil and Dolly Thakore.

When Alyque offered Dalip Tahil the role of Stanley Kowalski, Dalip was surprised that Alyque saw him fit for the role, and this was before his foray into Bollywood. Dalip saw this role as a challenging one, as it was made famous by the great Marlon Brando. But Alyque took him into confidence and placed a lot of faith in him and after many rehearsals, Dalip played this character perfectly and is still regarded by many and Dalip himself as one of his finest performances on stage.

Blanche is such a pivotal character… she’s the key to the whole plot, and the whole play revolves around her character, as all the characters are reacting to Blanche. This role was made famous by actress Vivien Leigh.

And Alyque had one of his most proven and trusted actors to play the part. She was none other than Sabira Merchant. She went on to win The All India Critics Association Award that year for her role as Blanche, and this is the only English play in India to win this award.

Dalip who worked very closely with her on this play said, “Sabira was the perfect pick for Blanche DuBois… her physique, mannerisms, sensitivity. It seemed to me that she totally knew that character from somewhere, perhaps the depths of her imagination. And if you have a good Blanche, boy, you’re in business.”