A Streetcar Named Desire at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Tennessee Williams' classic play is as poignant today as it must have been when it was first produced on Broadway nearly 80 years ago.

But even before a word is spoken, Emily James' stunning set and Jeanine Byrne's lighting immediately immerses us in the sultry New Orleans of the 1940s, with Pippa Murphy's jazzy compositions and sound completing the picture.

It creates a disturbing atmosphere of tension as the heartbreaking story of vulnerability, misogyny and abuse unfolds in a powerful production.

Matthew Trevannion never holds back as Stanley, the 'bestial' husband of his adoring wife, Stella, as he turns against his sister-in-law Blanche DuBois when he thinks he is being done out of an inheritance.

The scenes between him and the women in his life are truly terrifying.

Under multi-award-winning Elizabeth Newman's direction, all three actors – Trevannion, Kirsty Stuart as Blanche, and Nalini Chetty as Stella – are totally believable. It felt as if we were watching something real, so I felt for Blanche as she descended from fantasy to madness, I was wishing Stella would really see the man she'd married, and I was in fear that Stanley would jump off the stage and abuse us all!!!

It was an emotional and exhausted reviewer who wended her way home!

A Streetcar Named Desire is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until November 9

Box Office: 0131 248 4848

lyceum.org.uk