Blanche

Blanche Dubois has decided to leave her past behind. She moves in temporarily with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley. She is startled by her sister's life, which is dominated by her husband. In turn, Stanley feels threatened by Blanches arrival. Tensions run high. When Stella is away one night, it comes to a violent sexual confrontation between Blanche and Stanley.

Whereas writer Tennessee Williams in his original play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) describes all the events up to the night Blanche is raped by Stanley and the morning after, this adaptation by Belle van Heerikhuizen zooms in precisely on that night itself. What exactly happened there?

Director Belle van Heerikhuizen: "Blanche is a woman struggling with her loneliness. In response, she deploys her femininity as a weapon. But when she hits Stanley with it, she sets in motion something she can no longer control. I find it exciting to focus on the part that Tennessee Williams skipped in his play: the long dark night when it all went wrong."

• Excluding consumption