Sweet Bird of Youth

'Tennessee Williams's mordantly funny and deeply troubled meditation on the desperate dismay of ageing and the iniquities of racial bigotry.' INDEPENDENT 'It's a wonderfully weird play, starting claustrophobic, losing intensity as it introduces the locals. then regrouping for a devastating second half. This unruly, unforgettable play takes its unpredictable course to something that makes you feel afresh our powerlessness against time.' THE TIMES When Chance Wayne left the small town of St. Cloud, he did so with the ambition of being an actor: now, many years later, he returns as a gigolo and the companion of faded movie star Alexandra del Lago. But can Chance convince the town he did actually make it big and win over his childhood sweetheart? Or will the mistakes of his past punish him still? Sweet Bird of Youth is Tennessee Williams's 1959 Broadway hit that explores the social and political climate of 1950s America, at a time when sexual freedom was a critical issue. This edition includes an introduction by Alison Walls that explores the play's production history as well as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.

Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams; 1911-83) was a US playwright, whose controversial plays dealt with themes of repressed sexuality and family conflict. Williams was the most popular playwright in America between 1945 and 1960, winning the Pulitzer Prize twice and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award four times. Amongst serious playwrights, only Eugene O'Neill equalled his achievements on the Broadway stage; several of Williams's plays were also made into successful films. The son of a shoe salesman, Williams grew up in some poverty in Mississippi and Missouri. Many of his early frustrations, which are reflected in his plays, arose from the prudery of his mother and the coarseness of his womanizing father, who, as his son's homosexuality became apparent, invariably referred to him as 'Miss Nancy'. The playwright revealed his homosexuality in his Memoirs (1975), having previously explored the subject in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer. Williams tried his hand at fiction and poetry before turning to drama in the late 1930s, winning a Theatre Guild prize for the four one-act plays entitled American Blues in 1939. Recognition as a major playwright came with The Glass Menagerie, a tender work inspired by the tragic life of his sister, a schizophrenic. His next play, the brutal A Streetcar Named Desire, opened in 1947, winning the Pulitzer Prize and making a star of Marlon Brando. It was followed a year later by Summer and Smoke. In 1949, these three plays were running simultaneously in London. His later works included The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real (1953), Orpheus Descending (1957), and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1959), which opened with Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in the leads. By the late 1950s, Williams was being accused of repeating himself, and after Period of Adjustment (1960) and The Night of the Iguana (1961), his plays were received unenthusiastically. During his later years, Williams became increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol, suffering a nervous breakdown in 1969. He died in 1983.

Chronology Introduction Development of the play (Williams's state of mind, process and different iterations; collaboration with Elia Kazan) Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts (segregation; sexual freedom; political climate; Williams's other plays) Characters (allegorical names; African-American characters) Setting (St. Cloud; hotel; Easter weekend) Style and language (poetic realism; imagery; music) Themes (corruption/purity; violence; religion; sex; race; beauty; public image; politics) Productions and response (original cast; subsequent notable productions; reviews; film adaptations) Academic Debate Further Study Sweet Bird of Youth Notes