Summer and Smoke
Mr. Thomas Williams (Tennessee,) was born in Columbus, Mississippi to Cornelius Coffin and Edwina Dankin Williams, March 26 1911. Thomas' family moves to Missouri in 1918, and between the years of 1929 and 1939 Tennessee attends three different universities. After having written his first Blanche DuBois scene, from A Streetcar named Desire, in December of 1944, he took a few months break and wrote his first draft of Summer and Smoke. As a result, the character Alma is seen having a parallel to Blanche. Also in the year 1937, Tennessee's sister Rose is institutionalized for schizophrenia. Typically patients with schizophrenia are at times progressive, at times intermediate and can regress at anytime. They also show a tendency toward deterioration, and memory disturbance. Knowing that Tennessee grew up around a person of this nature helps to explain the "Blanche DuBois" character and all of the other characters such as Alma who relate to her. This show echoes more than just this reflection of Tennessee's past, before the family's move to Missouri, Tennessee grew up much like Alma, in a rectory. Much like Reverend Winemiller, Reverend Dankin, Tennessee's grandfather, was an Episcopal minister. Tennessee's grandfather had also been a doctor, as was John Buchanan. Also for her gift of song, as Alma also had, Rose Dankin in nicknamed the "Nightingale of the Delta."
Tennessee finally, in 1938, graduates with a BA degree in English from the University of Iowa. Summer and Smoke was written after Tennessee had taken break from writing A Streetcar named Desire.
The first production was at the Music Box Theater in New York, October to January of 1949. In 1947, Margo Jones agreed to stage Summer...
... middle of paper ...
...nt to see his daughter fall for someone below her stature. He suffers with his wife, yet he turns to his religion to solve any of the problems and the sufferings that happen to his family.
Works Cited
Devlin, Albert J., ed. Conversations with Tennessee Williams. University Press, 1986.
Kolin, Phillip C., ed. The Tennessee Williams Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2004.
Bordman, Gerald, ed. The American Theater:A Chronical of Comedy and Drama1930-1969. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Crandell, George W, ed. The Critical Response to Tennessee Williams. Greenwood Press, 1996.
Campbell and Hinsey, md, ed. Psychiatric Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1960.
Kupa Frantisek, The Book Lover. Art Collections of Prague Castle, 1900.
Vallotton, Felix, The Visit. Kunstmuseum, Winterthur, 1987.
Enrico Caruso, Cantique de Noel, 1916.
Gill, Glenda Eloise. No Surrender! No Retreat! : African American Pioneer Performers of Twentieth-Century American Theater. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.
Houchin, John H. Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2003.
In Dialogue: Theatre of America, Harold Clurman said, “we make theatre out of life” (27), and it was precisely this view that motivated him to help create a uniquely American theatre. Clurman, considered one of the most influential directors of the modern American theatre, had a unique vision of what the American theatre could become. One of the founders of the quintessentially American troupe, the Group Theatre, Clurman was a contemporary of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, and even married to Stella Adler for twenty years. At a ceremony honoring Clurman, Elia Kazan stated that Clurman’s “greatest achievement [was] himself” (Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre). An important figure in our theatrical past, Clurman’s theories on theatre and directing require close attention. In this paper, I will first provide a brief biography of Clurman, second, examine his theories of theatre and directing, and lastly, I will explore his criticisms of the then-contemporary theatre, and draw conclusions to the current state of the Broadway theatre.
Slide, Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. Google Books. Web. 1 May 2014.
One strong influence that is evident in Tennessee Williams' plays is his family life, which was "full of tension and despair". His father, a businessman who owned a show warehouse, was known for his gambling and drinking habits. He was often engaged with violent arguments with his wife that frightened Tennessee's sister, Rose. Williams cared for Rose most of her adult life, after his mother, Edwina, allowed her to undergo a frontal lobotomy. This event greatly disturbed him. Many people believe that Williams' first commercial success, The Glass Menagerie, was based on his own family relationships. This play tells the story of Tom, his disabled sister, Laura, and their controlling mother, Amanda, who tries to make a match between Laura and a Gentleman caller. The characters seem to resemble the people in Williams' immediate family.
Guadagnini. W. 2009. The Visionary and Silent Theatre of Roger Ballen [Online]. Available: http://www.rogerballen.com/articles/the-visionary-and-silent-theatre-of-roger-ballen [2014, Feb. 16]
Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams, grew up in the South which accounts for most of his plays taking place in the South. He was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi to Cornelius Coffin and Edwina Dakin Williams. Cornelius was a traveling and was was out of town for a majority of Tennesse’s childhood. When he was home, he was very unsupportive of his son’s creative interests, especially his writing. He would even call Tennessee “Miss Nancy” to poke fun at his son’s desire to write instead of play sports like the stereotypical boy should. Tennessee was able to receive support from his mother who encouraged him to write. He attended the University of Missouri where he received high honors in all his courses except for ROTC which he failed. After school, he worked in a shoe factory and wrote during the night until 1934 when he had a nervous breakdown and had to quit his job in order to recuperate. In 1938, he attended the University of Iowa and was awarded a Bachelor of the Arts degree, after which he began writing as a career. His major works, some of which were turned into films and many performed on Broadway, include “A Glass Menagerie...
Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Hill & Wang New York,
Probably Williams’ greatest influence was his sister Rose. Both the character Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie are based on Rose, Williams sister (Poetry Foundation). She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was in and out of mental hospitals throughout her life. Her parents, in an attempt to treat her schizophrenia, allowed doctors to perform a prefrontal lobotomy (Michigan University Theatre). The procedure went badly and left Rose incapacitated for the remainder of her life. This heartache could have contributed to Williams’ alcoholism and depression (Michigan University Theatre). In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield can be easily acknowledged to be a resemblance of Williams’ mother, Edwina Williams. Tennessee Williams’ battled depression and addiction throughout his life. Growing up in a harsh family setting contributed to these conditions. Rose’s condition made it even harder for him to live a normal
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
Biner, Pierre. The Living Theater. Takin' It To The Streets: A Sixties Reader, pp. 288-293. ed. Alexander Bloom and Wini Breines.
Tennessee Williams is known to be a Southern playwright of American drama. Williams knew how to show haunting elements like psychological drama, loneliness, and inexcusable violence in his plays. Critics say Williams often depicted women who were suffering from critical downfalls due to his sister Rose Williams. Rose was always fighting with a mental health condition known as schizophrenia all her life. The character Laura in The Glass Menagerie is always compared to Rose, because they were both socially awkward and very quiet girls. This may be true, but one can look at Blanche DuBois from A Street Car Named Desire shadows his sister’s life and characteristics more than Laura did. In the obituary of Rose Williams that was written by Philip Hoare, he says, “She grew up outgoing, using make-up earlier than other girls, and was remembered as “very pretty and a bit standoffish” (Hoare). This parallel sounds remarkably like Blanche and does not sound like Laura’s characteristics. Laura never wore make up and her personality did not keep others distant. She was distant to others, because of her disability. Also Roses down fall is very similar to Blanche DuBois down fall in the play and end result. Laura never has a down fall in The Glass Menagerie. Laura seems to have hope in the end of the play. Laura was a tribute to show Rose’s innocence, but Blanche was to show Rose’s true colors. Tennessee Williams uses elements of appearance, age, gentleman callers, sexuality, and the fear of homosexuality to show his sisters down fall in the character Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Tennessee Williams is recognized as being one of America’s top playwrights during the twentieth century. His play A Streetcar Named Desire, written in 1947, tells the tale of two sisters and their struggle to find happiness. The Glass Menagerie, published in 1945, is a memory play, which profoundly impacted Williams’s career. Suddenly Last Summer, published in 1993, is a one-act play about a young girl’s horrifying experience while traveling abroad. All of these plays incorporate aspects of Williams’ own life and portray dysfunctional characters.
Vaughan, Virginia Mason. "Caliban's Theatrical Metamorphoses." Caliban. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 1992. 192-206.
Brockett, Oscar G., and Oscar G. Brockett. The Essential Theatre. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. Print.