EVER since Vivien Leigh flirted her way across the screen in the 1951 film version of Tennessee Williams’ greatest play, the character of Blanche DuBois has held a fascination for theatre audiences and actresses alike.

With her faded beauty, unstable nature and charismatic madness, taking on the role has been likened to playing Hamlet.

The effect Blanche has on the characters that surround her is crucial to the success of any production of A Streetcar Named Desire; the optimistic Stella, the violently masculine Stanley, the sweetly simple Mitch — all are drawn into the tornado that is the broken yet defiant Southern belle.

For actress Clare Foster, the role will be the biggest in her career to date, and, she quite happily admits, possibly the greatest she will ever take on.

“She’s a phenomenal and beautifully written character,” said Clare. “Other than Shakespeare there aren’t a lot of parts written like that.”

Key to her growing confidence in her ability to pull off this most difficult of roles (Rachel Weisz and Cate Blanchett were lauded recently for their turns as Blanche, but Isabelle Huppert was savaged by critics in her native France) is Clare’s trust in the Octagon’s artistic director, David Thacker, and the methods he uses to allow his actors to explore their characters.

“David has a brilliant way of going through the play as a group so that by the time you get on your feet you know the character already,” she said.

“I’ve never worked like that before, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not work like that again. There’s an extraordinary depth you get, without being ‘actory’ about it.

“David strips any fear away from the beginning — you’re excited that you can play and explore so much. He’s extraordinary.

“I think the key for directors is to be able to adapt to each individual actor, and he’s very sensitive about that.

“It all comes down to trust — I have such faith in him that even when he does things that are new to me, you go along with him.”

Playing opposite Clare will be Kieran Hill, Amy Nuttall and Huw Higginson, all of whom appeared at the Octagon last season.

Kieran will play Stanley Kowalski, the brutish husband of Blanche’s sister Stella.

Marlon Brando got his big break after playing the role on Broadway, and subsequent performances have inevitably been compared to the visceral sexuality of the original.

It will be Hill’s fourth production at the Octagon. After his debut in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, his role as Gethin in Comedians suggests he has the necessary madness, while he made the air practically vibrate with quiet passion in The Hired Man.

Amy Nuttall is probably unfairly still best known for her role as Chloe in Emmerdale, despite having made a real name for herself as a stage actress since her departure from the soap.

Reunited with Hill, whose errant wife she played in The Hired Man, she will play Stella, Stanley’s sensual but submissive wife, who is also Blanche’s sister.

“They’re both wonderful, I think they are going to be brilliant,” said Clare, who has worked with Hill before and says the opportunity to be reunited with him on stage was one of the main draws of coming to Bolton.

Once here, however, she was equally charmed by how much more passionate the town’s residents are about their theatre than most Londoners.

“Bolton is brilliant in that everyone seems to go to the theatre, everyone supports it,” she said.

“In London, maybe they take it for granted, and only the tourists actually go. But here it’s amazing. Everyone is so invested in the plays.”

* A Streetcar Named Desire is at the Octagon, Bolton from Thursday, September 16 until October 9.