The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams

by Prosser, William; Sherin, Ed

• ISBN13: 9780810863613
• ISBN10: 0810863618
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-24
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Summary

"Praised as one of the finest American playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) left a legacy of theater classics, including The Glass Menagerie, Sweet Bird of Youth. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Although he won two Pulitzer prizes for drama, Williams fell out of favor in the early 1960s, and after The Night of the Iguana his subsequent works suffered both critical and commercial failure. Even worse, several of his plays failed to get produced in his lifetime." "William Prosser directed six productions of Williams' plays, five of which the playwright saw, criticized, and often praised. Determined to liberate the playwright's later works from the literary purgatory to which they had been condemned by critics, Prosser examines the plays Williams produced from the early 1960s until his death. In several thoughtful essays. Prosser discusses such works as The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, Slapstick Tragedy, Kingdom of Earth, The Red Devil Battery Sign, and Clothes for a Summer Hotel a portrait of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Besides offering reevaluations of these plays, each chapter may be seen as research and analysis for potential productions, Throughout the book, Prosser contends that Williams' talent was not destroyed but rather went on in different directions to create extraordinary, if misunderstood, works."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

William Prosser was professor of theatre at Brooklyn College of City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Preface	p. ix
Introduction: Making Voyages	p. xi
Tennessee Williams and the Critics	p. 1
Milk Train to Byzantium	p. 13
Down and Out in New Orleans and Cocaloony Key	p. 32
Mississippi and Tokyo	p. 52
In an Unknown State	p. 77
The Longest Distance	p. 99
Night Flight from Dallas	p. 128
An Incredible Visit to Asheville and Beyond	p. 157
Through the Dark Door	p. 188
In the Old Country	p. 209
On the Beach	p. 234
Forgotten Things Remembered	p. 252
Index	p. 273
About the Author	p. 285
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