Tennessee Williams – Ian Louis Harris

Summer And Smoke by Tennessee Williams, Almeida Theatre, 31 March 2018

Bloomin’ ‘eck this was good.

Janie and I both really love Tennessee Williams but neither of us are very keen to see revivals of plays if we have seen a decent production before.

So this production of Summer And Smoke, a play that neither of us had seen before, at one of our favourite places, The Almeida, sounded like the hottest of hot tickets to our taste.

So much so, it would have been understandable had our massively high expectations not been met…but we needn’t have worried – this production most certainly did the business for us.

Here is a link to the Almeida’s resource on this one.

Below is the trailer:

I’m not too sure why this play is so rarely performed, other than the fact that I think it does need some sort of imaginative staging to come alive – achieved wonderfully by Rebecca Frecknall and her team in Rebecca’s first major gig as a Director.

Frecknall is a star director in the making and Patsy Ferran is similarly a star performer breaking through just now.

We saw Patsy Ferran only a few week’s ago and were hugely impressed with her at the Royal Court in My Mum’s A Twat – click here or below:

My Mum’s A Twat by Anoushka Warden, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 13 January 2018

Below is a slightly longer vid with opening night reflections from the cast and crew:

This production has had absolutely rave reviews on the whole – click here for a link that finds most of them if the headlines on the Almeida site aren’t enough for you.

Doubtless we’ll remember this as one of the highlights of our theatre-going year.

Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams, Cottesloe Theatre, 15 May 2010

We’d been on a relatively poor run at the theatre for six months. This was more like it!

This production of an early Tennessee Williams was twinned with a production of an early Eugene O’Neil, Beyond The Horizon, which we went to see a few weeks later – click here.

Janie and I are partial to a bit of Tennessee Williams. While this early play is not one of his great plays, it shows all the signs of an emerging great playwright and was a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the theatre.

A very strong cast and production from a regional source; the Royal & Derngate Northampton.

The critics loved it; this search term – click here – will find you the reviews and stuff; mostly for both but some for this play specifically .

We probably got some food from Shanghai Knightsbridge, “May’s”, afterwards. Either that or shawarmas.

The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, Olivier Theatre, 9 April 2007

A rare visit to the theatre on a Monday – this was Easter Monday.

Janie and I both love a bit of Tennessee Williams and we had only seen an amateur production of the Rose Tattoo before – at the Questors some 10 years earlier.

This was a top notch production at the National – no holds barred.

Zoe Wannamaker was exceptional.

Critics seemed to think the production and performances masked a less than brilliant play – I think I probably agree with that analysis – click here for a link to reviews.

Below is the trailer from the 1955 movie – very different style:

Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams, Comedy Theatre, 10 April 1999

We do like our Tennessee Williams, do Janie and I. This is a rarely performed play and I have always been fascinated by it.

Indeed, we must have been very keen to see this one, as we booked for the first Saturday of the West End run. We tend to avoid the West End these days.

We loved it. I wrote in my log:

Superb. One of the best so far this year.

Sheila Gish was predictably excellent, but we were also much taken with a young Rachel Weisz; I think this was the first time we saw her. There was more to the cast than those two – see tags in this piece – the Theatricalia entry unusually lacks them.

We were wowed; not much else that we can say.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard was also wowed

Suddenly Standard de Jongh 15 Apr 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But wait! Our friend, Michael Billington, didn’t like it:

Suddenly Guardian Billington 17 Apr 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We need a third opinion. Charles Spencer in the telegraph. Pretty darn positive:

Suddenly Telegraph Spencer 16 Apr 1999, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams, Cottesloe Theatre, 7 March 1998

Janie and I were quite excited about this one.

In the summer of 1996 (or was it spring 1997?), we had spent a Sunday on the Thames, on Michael & Elisabeth’s Thames sailing barge, The Lady Daphne, along with, amongst others, Trevor Nunn & Imogen Stubbs. Trevor was busy reading an early Tennessee Williams script, Not About Nightingales, which had never been performed in the UK. Despite not being among Williams best work, Trevor suggested to us the play had a lot going for it. He was thinking of putting it on at the Royal National Theatre once he became Artistic Director there. I think his appointment had been announced but Trevor had not yet taken up the role when we met him.

Anyway, we were very keen to see the finished product once the production was announced and booked to see it at the start of its run.

The only critic who really matters here on Ogblog…me…wrote:

Powerful stuff – not a great play but very well executed.

I especially remember Finbar Lynch and Corin Redgrave putting in standout performances.

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph seemed to like it:

Nightingales Spencer Telegraph 09 Mar 1998, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp in The Observer was not so convinced:

Nightingales Clapp Observer 08 Mar 1998, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

John Gross in The Sunday Telegraph was quite keen:

08 Mar 1998, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard seemed particularly taken with it.

Nightingales de Jongh Standard 06 Mar 1998, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Don’t ask me how or why we had the stomach for this violent play but not for Shopping & F***ing the week before. Perhaps the violence seemed less gratuitous. Perhaps the way it was produced/directed.

Perhaps because we were demob happy – although we had cancelled our main spring holiday plans because of Phillie’s indisposition, we had decided to take a week off an go to Majorca for some much needed rest. We flew off early the next morning.

The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, Questors Studio, 17 January 1998

We went to the Questor’s with The Duchess (Janie’s mum) that night. Unusually, there is no mention of a meal in a restaurant afterwards, but Janie’s diary has lots of notes about her mum going off to Tunisia on holiday the next day, so my guess is that we agreed to just go to the theatre and separately had light suppers at the respective homes afterwards.

As for the play/production, I noted that this was a:

…very good Questor’s production

Janie and I are especially partial to Tennessee Williams – it is a credit to this production that we liked it, as we sense that Williams is not easy to produce well. The Rose Tattoo is not Williams best/easiest play either.

The Questor’s has a super archive for all its productions – here is a link to the archive for this one.

I have downloaded the inside of the programme which includes a handwritten note that tells us this was the first night of the production.

A decade later, Janie and I saw a top notch professional production of this play…

The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, Olivier Theatre, 9 April 2007

It is inappropriate to compare the two – Zoe Wannamaker played the lead at The National. Suffice it to say that I remember both productions well and fondly.

The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams, Lyric Hammersmith, 29 November 1997

I wrote the following in my log around the time:

Unusual production; worked in many but not all respects.

Originally done at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow in October 1994.

This play is not, in my view, top notch Tennessee Williams, so there was possibly only so much that could be done with it. Philip Prowse did his best as director. Rupert Everett flamboyantly and memorably played the role of Flora Goforth.

Like us, Nicholas de Jongh was impressed by the performances but not 100% sure about the play in The Standard:

28 Oct 1997, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp in the Observer observed the performance as uber-camp

02 Nov 1997, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph didn’t like it much:

29 Oct 1997, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Out Cry by Tennessee Williams, Lyric Hammersmith, 16 May 1997

This Cheek By Jowl production started at the Everyman in Cheltenham and Northcott Exeter before switching to the Lyric Hammersmith. Janie and I rated this one very good. We must have been very keen to see it as we went to the penultimate performance on a Friday evening (on a weekend when we also went to The Orange Tree on the Saturday), which even for us was a bit excessive.

We are especially partial to Tennessee Williams; while this play is not “major Williams” it was still a gripping theatrical event for us.

Paul Taylor in The Independent was impressed.

Taylor Indy Out Cry 25 Apr 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph, on the other hand, hated it.

Spencer Telegraph Out Cry 29 Apr 1997, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Michael Billington in The Guardian was equivocal about it.

Billington Guardian Out Cry 30 Apr 1997, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

It certainly went down well in the West Country before it came to London.

Herald Express Out Cry 03 Apr 1997, Thu Herald Express (Torquay, Devon, England) Newspapers.com

Baby Doll by Andrew Poppy & Tennessee Williams, Cottesloe Theatre, 8 May 1993

This piece was billed as:

a new chamber opera based on the original screenplay…

…perhaps we should have paid heed to that billing.

It was not to our taste.

It was part of the Springboards season, of which we saw three productions at the Cottesloe in two weeks. This was the second of the three we saw.

Below is a review from The Guardian – opera review rather than theatre review please note:

Baby Doll May 1993 Tue, May 11, 1993 – 28 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

The Observer review can be seen as part of the article (including the picture) below:

Observer May 1993 Cottesloe Sun, May 9, 1993 – 55 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

We stayed at mine that weekend. Whether I cooked or we got a takeway on the way home is lost in the mists of time.

I do recall Janie trying to sound like the atonal operatic voices in this misguided Baby Doll production for some while after the show.

Oh dear.

“Clubbing” Up West, 13 March 1992, The Night Of The Iguana by Tennessee Williams, Lyttelton Theatre, 14 March 1992

Excellent

I wrote in my log and I remember this production as such too. In 1992 I was still going to this sort of production with Bobbie as long as she was available, which most often she was, despite her protests that mebooking stuff so far ahead meant she couldn’t/wouldn’t guarantee her availability.

Bobbie was there for this one.

I’m pretty sure I had seen Bobbie the night before as well. The diary simply says “clubbing” which, as I recall it, meant a West End evening with Bobbie and several of her law reporter friends.

I remember the evening of Friday 13 March 1992 clearly, because I almost lost my life earlier that day on the M11, driving out to see Schering, when a lorry shed its load of timber on the two-lane motorway ahead of me and I had nowhere to go (other than into a central reservation barrier to the right or into the vehicles to my left) so I slowed down as much as I could through the timber and then vehicularly limped to the hard shoulder to have my broken car and shaken me rescued.

I must have bored everyone shitless with my Friday 13th story that previous evening and for sure the events of the day and evening of 13th were small beer compared with the drama that unfolded at The Lyttelton on the Saturday Night.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

I’ve always been partial to a bit of Tennessee Williams and this play/production is a good example of why Williams is worth watching.

There’s a good synopsis of the play on Wikipedia – here.

Frances Barber as Maxine, Alfred Molina as The Reverend Shannon, Eileen Atkins as Hannah…top cast. Richard Eyre in the director’s chair.

Richard Burton, Ava Gardner & Deborah Kerr starred in the Hollywood film version – films are different, but here is a clip: