Artist Edward Burra (1905-76) is well known for his watercolour paintings inspired by the Parisian underworld and the red light districts of Marseilles and the Mediterranean towns. His influences were wide, ranging from the satires of Grosz and the townscapes of de Chirico to the art of Latin America, and elements of all these can be seen in his theatre design. From the 1930s until the 1950s he was creating costumes and settings, notably for opera at Covent Garden and for dance works by the Sadler's Wells Ballet. His designs for Robert Helpmann's one-act ballet, Miracle in the Gorbals, are widely regarded as his finest achievement for the stage.

The set model for the ballet shows how Burra created an atmospheric setting and provided an open space for the dancers without relying solely on painted drop curtains and wing flats. His three-dimensional tenements give a strong sense of place. The use of watercolour, where other artists would have chosen gouache or poster paint, was forced on Burra by circumstance. He suffered badly from arthritis and found it easier to work in watercolour than in other paints, but when reproduced the muted shades of his designs were appropriate to the ballet, the greys and dull reds reflecting the drab lives of the inhabitants of the Glasgow slums. Miracle in the Gorbals is a modern morality play. Christ returns to earth in the person of the Stranger, danced by Helpmann. He converts a prostitute and restores a young girl to life after her suicide, but is betrayed by the Official and murdered by a gang of razor-wielding thugs. The power of the ballet disconcerted some reviewers and the subject of gang violence in Glasgow was a little too contemporary for comfort. Sadler's Wells Ballet did take Miracle in the Gorbals on tour but when they visited Scotland they deliberately chose not to bring it to Glasgow.