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Suddenly Last Summer

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This article is about the play. For other uses, seeSuddenly Last Summer (disambiguation).
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Suddenly Last Summer is a one-actplay byTennessee Williams, written in New York in 1957.[1] It openedoff Broadway on January 7, 1958, as part of a double bill with another of Williams' one-acts,Something Unspoken (written in London in 1951).[2]:  52  The presentation of the two plays was given the overall titleGarden District, butSuddenly Last Summer is now more often performed alone.[3] Williams said he thought the play "perhaps the most poetic" he had written,[2]:  86  andHarold Bloom ranks it among the best examples of the playwright's lyricism.[4]

Suddenly Last Summer
First edition cover (New Directions)
Written byTennessee Williams
Characters
  • Violet Venable
  • Sebastian Venable
  • Catharine Holly
  • Mrs. Holly
  • George Holly
  • Dr. Cukrowicz
  • Miss Foxhill
  • Sister Felicity
Date premieredJanuary 7, 1958 (67 years ago) (1958-01-07)
Place premieredYork Playhouse
New York City, New York, U.S.
Original languageEnglish
SubjectAging, greed, hypocrisy, sexual repression
GenreDrama
Settingroom and garden of Mrs. Venable's mansion in theGarden District ofNew Orleans

Plot

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In 1936, in theGarden District of New Orleans,[a] Mrs. Violet Venable, an elderly socialite widow from a prominent local family, has invited a doctor to her home. She talks nostalgically about her son Sebastian, a poet who died under mysterious circumstances in Spain the previous summer.[b] During the course of their conversation, she offers to make a generous donation to support the doctor's psychiatric research if he will perform alobotomy on Catharine, her niece, who has been confined to St. Mary, a private mental institution, at her expense since returning to America.[5]:  14–16  Mrs. Venable is eager to "make her peaceful" once and for all by erasing her memories of Sebastian's violent death and hishomosexuality; Mrs. Venable is especially adamant that Catharine stop talking about the latter, in order to preserve her late son's reputation.[5]:  13–14 

Catharine arrives, followed by her mother and brother. They are also eager to suppress her version of events, since Mrs. Venable is threatening to keep Sebastian's will inprobate until she is satisfied, something Catharine's family can't afford to challenge.[5]:  23  But the doctor injects Catharine with atruth serum and she proceeds to give a scandalous account of Sebastian's moral dissolution and the events leading up to his death, how he used her to procure young men for his sexual exploitation,[5]:  44  and how he was set upon, mutilated, and partially devoured by a mob of starving children in the street. Mrs. Venable lunges at Catharine but is prevented from striking her with her cane. She is taken off stage, screaming "cut this hideous story from her brain!" Far from being convinced of Catharine's insanity, however, the doctor concludes the play by stating he believes her story could be true.[5]:  50–51 

Analysis

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From its first page, the script is rich in symbolic detail open to many interpretations.[5]:  3  The "mansion ofVictorian Gothic style" immediately connects the play withSouthern Gothic literature, with which it shares many characteristics.[6]:  229  Sebastian's "jungle-garden," with its "violent" colours and noises of "beasts, serpents, and birds ... of savage nature" introduces the images ofpredation that punctuate much of the play's dialogue.[c] These have been interpreted variously as implying the violence latent in Sebastian himself;[7] depicting modernity's vain attempts to "contain" itsatavistic impulses;[8] and standing for a bleak "Darwinian" vision of the world, equating "the primeval past and the ostensibly civilised present."[d]

TheVenus flytrap mentioned in the play's opening speech can be read as portraying Sebastian as the "pampered" son,[10]:  337  or "hungry for flesh";[e] as portraying the "seductive deadliness" concealed beneath Mrs. Venable's "civilized veneer,"[9]:  112  while she "clings desperately to life" in her "hothouse" home;[12] as a joint "metaphor for Violet and Sebastian, who consume and destroy the people around them";[13] as symbolising nature's cruelty, like the "flesh-eating birds" of theGalapagos;[14] as symbolising "a primitive state of desire,"[15] and so on.

Williams referred to symbols as "the natural language of drama"[2]:  250  and "the purest language of plays."[16] The ambiguity arising from the abundance of symbolism is therefore not unfamiliar to his audiences. What poses a unique difficulty to critics ofSuddenly Last Summer is the absence of its protagonist.[10]:  336  All we can know of Sebastian must be gleaned from the conflicting accounts given by two characters of questionable sanity, leaving him "a figure of unresolvable contradiction."[6]:  239–241 

In spite of its difficulties, however, the play's recurrent images of predation andcannibalism[f] point to Catharine's cynical pronouncement as key to understanding the playwright's intentions: "we all use each other," she says in Scene 4, "and that's what we think of as love."[5]:  34  Accordingly, Williams commented on a number of occasions that Sebastian's death was intended to show how:

Man devours man in a metaphorical sense. He feeds upon his fellow creatures, without the excuse of animals. Animals actually do it for survival, out of hunger ... I use that metaphor [of cannibalism] to express my repulsion with this characteristic of man, the way people use each other without conscience ... people devour each other.[2]:  146, 304 

Productions and Adaptations

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1958 original New York production

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The first production of the play was performedoff-Broadway, starting on January 7, 1958. Produced alongsideSomething Unspoken under the collective titleGarden District, it was staged by the York Playhouse company at the York Theatre on First Avenue in New York.Anne Meacham won anObie Award (Annual Off-Broadway Theatre Awards) for her performance as Catherine. The production also featured Hortense Alden as Mrs. Venable,Robert Lansing as Dr. Cukrowicz, Eleanor Phelps as Mrs. Holly and Alan Mixon as George Holly, and was directed by Herbert Machiz, with the set designed by Robert Soule and costumes by Stanley Simmons. Incidental music was byNed Rorem.[17]

1958 original London production

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The play's London debut was presented, under club conditions, at theArts Theatre on September 16, 1958, running until October 11. (The venue, though situated in the West End, was a club and therefore not technically a West End theatre.) Directed, like the off Broadway production, by Herbert Machiz, it was coupled once again withSomething Unspoken, with the cast headed byPatricia Neal as Catherine,Beatrix Lehmann as Mrs. Venable and David Cameron as Dr Cukrowicz. The set was by Stanley Moore, the costumes by Michael Ellis, and the music by Ned Rorem.[18]

1959 film

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The film version was released byColumbia Pictures in 1959, starringElizabeth Taylor,Katharine Hepburn andMontgomery Clift; it was directed byJoseph L. Mankiewicz from ascreenplay byGore Vidal and Williams. The movie differs greatly from the stage version, adding many scenes, characters andsubplots. TheHollywood Production Code forced the filmmakers to cut out the explicit references tohomosexuality. The film received threeAcademy Award nominations: Hepburn and Taylor were both nominated forBest Actress in a Leading Role, and it was also up forBest Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

1993 BBC TV play

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The play was adapted forBBC Television in 1993 under the direction ofRoyal National Theatre headRichard Eyre and starringMaggie Smith,Rob Lowe,Richard E. Grant andNatasha Richardson. It aired in the United States onPBS as an episode ofGreat Performances.[19] Smith was nominated for anEmmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie.[20] According to Lowe, his personal driver during production was also the personal driver forMontgomery Clift on the 1959 film.[21]

1995 Broadway debut

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The play made itsBroadway debut in 1995. It was performed together withSomething Unspoken, the other one-act play that it originally appeared with under the titleGarden District. It was presented by theCircle in the Square Theatre. The cast includedElizabeth Ashley,Victor Slezak andCelia Weston.[22]

1999 West End debut

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The play debuted in theWest End in 1999 at theComedy Theatre,London, starringSheila Gish as Mrs. Venable,Rachel Weisz as Catharine,Gerard Butler as Dr. Cukrowicz and directed bySean Mathias.[23]

2004 West End revival

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Michael Grandage directed a 2004 production at theLyceum Theatre, Sheffield, featuringDiana Rigg as Mrs. Venable andVictoria Hamilton as Catherine. The production toured nationally before transferring to theAlbery Theatre,London.[24] The production received enthusiastic reviews,[25] and Hamilton won theEvening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance.[26]

2006 off-Broadway

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An off-Broadway production in 2006 by theRoundabout Theatre Company starredBlythe Danner,Gale Harold andCarla Gugino.[27]

2015 Sydney Theatre Company

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The play was part of theSydney Theatre Company's 2015 season. DirectorKip Williams blended live camerawork with traditional stagecraft in a production starringEryn Jean Norvill as Catherine andRobyn Nevin as Venable.[28] The production received three nominations at the 2015Helpmann Awards, with Nevin nominated for Best Actress, the production nominated for Best Play, and Williams winning for Best Director.

2017 Théâtre de l'Odéon, Paris

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A French translation of the play was staged at theThéâtre de l'Odéon in March-April 2017.Stéphane Braunschweig directed Luce Mouchel as Mrs. Venable, Marie Rémond as Catherine, Jean-Baptiste Anoumon as Dr. Cukrowicz, Océane Cairaty as Miss Foxhill, Virginie Colemyn as Mrs. Holly, Glenn Marausse as George, and Boutaïna El Fekkak as Sœur Félicité.

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^Mrs. Venable tells us that Sebastian's fateful trip with Catharine, during which he failed to write a poem, took place in 1935. The play is set "between late summer and early fall" the following year.[5]
  2. ^Williams indicates that Cabeza de Lobo is in Spain, not (as it is sometimes assumed) in South America, by referring to Catharine's return "from Europe" aboard theBerengaria, an Atlantic liner.[5]:  14, 24  Williams might have had northern Spain in mind, and in particularSan Sebastián, as the private beach in Cabeza de Lobo frequented by Sebastian and Catharine is called Playa San Sebastian.[5]:  43 
  3. ^e.g. after Mrs. Holly says "don't laugh like that; it scares me, Catharine," there is the stage direction "jungle birds scream in the garden"[5]:  25 
  4. ^Thompson sees the opening stage direction as introducing "the dual role of victim and victimizer, predator and prey, engaged in a struggle for survival rather than salvation.[9]:  99, 112 
  5. ^According to Pecorari, the plant is "a rather transparent metaphor for Sebastian himself: Predatory yet vulnerable, perfectly handsome in a delicate, feminine way, like the goddess of beauty, and also hungry for flesh, in his case, adolescent boys instead of flies."[11]
  6. ^e.g. Catharine tells us how Sebastian talked about people, as if they were items on a menu – 'That one's delicious-looking, that one is appetizing' ... blonds were next on the menu ... Cousin Sebastian said he was famished for blonds"; she describes the "hot, ravenous mouth" of the married man she met at the Mardi Gras ball.[5]:  20–21, 36 

References

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  1. ^Williams, Tennessee (2000). Gussow, Mel; Holditch, Kenneth (eds.).Plays 1957–1980. New York, NY: Library of America. p. 973.ISBN 1883011876.
  2. ^abcdDevlin, Albert J., ed. (1986).Conversations with Tennessee Williams. Oxford, Mississippi:University Press of Mississippi.ISBN 978-0878052639.ISBN 0878052631
  3. ^Kolin, Philip C., ed. (1998).Tennessee Williams: A Guide to Research and Performance. London, UK:Greenwood Publishing. pp. 132–133.ISBN 978-0313303067.
  4. ^Bloom, Harold (2003).Introduction toTennessee Williams. Bloom's Bio-Critique. Chelsea House. p. 3.
  5. ^abcdefghijklWilliams, Tennessee (2009) [1957].Suddenly Last Summer and Other Plays. London, England:Penguin Publishing.:  3, 41 
  6. ^abGross, Robert F. (May 1995). "Consuming Hart: Sublimity and Gay Poetics inSuddenly Last Summer".Theatre Journal.47 (2). Baltimore, Maryland:Johns Hopkins University Press:229–251.doi:10.2307/3208485.JSTOR 3208485.
  7. ^van den Oever, Roel (2012).Mama's Boy: Momism and Homophobia in Postwar American Culture. London, England:Palgrave Macmillan. p. 85.ISBN 978-1349445486.
  8. ^Fielder, Elizabeth Rodriguez (2016). "A Litany Seeking a Text: The Specter of the Conjure in the Sub-Tropical Southern Gothic". In Edwards, Justin D.; Vasconcelos, Sandra G.T. (eds.).Tropical Gothic in Literature and Culture: The Americas. London, England:Routledge. p. 60.ISBN 978-1138915862.
  9. ^abThompson, Judith (1987).Tennessee Williams' Plays: Memory, Myth, and Symbol. London, England:Peter Lang.ISBN 978-0820404769.
  10. ^abSofer, Andrew (Fall 1995)."Self-Consuming Artifacts: Power, Performance and the Body in Tennessee Williams'Suddenly Last Summer".Modern Drama.38 (3). Toronto, Ontario, Canada:University of Toronto Press:336–347.doi:10.3138/md.38.3.336.S2CID 191578339.
  11. ^Pecorari, Marie (2013)."Chaste or chased? Interpreting indiscretion in Tennessee Williams'Suddenly Last Summer".Miranda (8).doi:10.4000/miranda.5553.
  12. ^Ford, Marylyn Claire (1997). "Parodying Fascism:Suddenly Last Summer as Political Allegory".Publications of the Mississippi Pholological Association:19–20.
  13. ^Gabriel, Jo (January 13, 2013)."The Devouring Mother, the Oedipal Son & the Hysterical Woman".The Last Drive In. RetrievedMarch 30, 2017.
  14. ^Barberà, Pau G. (2006)."Literature and Mythology in Tennessee Williams'Suddenly Last Summer". p. 4. RetrievedMarch 30, 2017.
  15. ^Lance, Daniel (2004)."Nature as a wild and sacrificial world: Tennessee Williams' view point".Colloquium on Violence and Religion. Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico. RetrievedMarch 30, 2017.
  16. ^Williams, Tennessee (1978)."Camino Real". InLahr, John; Day, Christine R.; Woods, Bob (eds.).Where I Live: Selected Essays. New York, NY: New Directions. p. 66.ISBN 978-0811207065.
  17. ^Kolin, Philip C., ed. (1998).Tennessee Williams: A Guide to Research and Performance. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 132.
  18. ^'Tennessee Williams - Leucotomy, Cannibalism',The Stage, September 18, 1958, p. 11.
  19. ^Leonard, John (January 11, 1993)."Class Menagerie".New York. New York, NY:New York Media. p. 51.
  20. ^"Dame Maggie Smith at Television Academy".
  21. ^King, Susan (January 6, 1993). "Williams play a different role for Rob Lowe".The Los Angeles Times.
  22. ^Willis, John A. (1998).Theatre World, 1995–1996 Season. New York: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. p. 14.ISBN 9781557833228.OCLC 39883373.
  23. ^"London Theatre Guide Archive Theatre Reviews / Suddenly Last Summer". June 8, 2016.
  24. ^"Suddenly Last Summer".MichaelGrandage. Productions. 2004. Archived fromthe original on September 25, 2013. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2013.
  25. ^Bird, Alan (May 14, 2004)."Suddenly Last Summer with Victoria Hamilton and Diana Rigg at Albery 2004". LondonTheatre.co.uk. RetrievedJune 21, 2011.
  26. ^"Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2004".westendtheatre.com. January 1, 2009.
  27. ^Willis, John; Hodges, Ben (2009).Theatre World 2006–2007 Season. Vol. 63. New York: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. p. 226.ISBN 9781557837288.OCLC 228373426.
  28. ^"Director Kip Williams". Video.STC Magazine. Sydney Theatre Company. February 10, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2015.

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