Tennessee Williams: Plays 1957-1980 by Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams is one of the most renowned playwrights of the 20th century. This collection of plays published from 1957 to 1980, showcases why he is considered a master of the craft.

This collection covers some of Williams’ most iconic plays, like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, which cemented his reputation as a leading American dramatist. Additionally, it includes some of his lesser-known works such as Five by Tenn and Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis?

The first play in this collection isCat on a Hot Tin Roof, which is set in a Southern plantation during the heat of the Great Depression. Brick, the protagonist, must reconcile his broken marriage and confront the truth about himself and his loved ones. Similarly, A Streetcar Named Desire addresses many issues prevalent during the time like class and gender roles. Set in New Orleans, it follows the tragic clash between a faded Southern belle and her brutish brother-in-law.

The collection contains lesser-known works likeClothes for a Summer Hotel, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, and Camino Real. Clothes for a Summer Hotel is mainly set in a Florida hotel where Fitzgerald and his wife once stayed in the 1930s. The play blends memories and impressions of the Fitzgeralds with flashbacks to the lives of other characters in the hotel. Eccentricities of a Nightingale follows two strong-willed women in small-town Mississippi as they come to terms with their respective desires. In Camino Real, an array of characters from literature, history, and mythology are thrown into a surreal landscape, which Williams elaborates as “a stony river bed crossed by a bridge of swords.”

This volume contains many of Williams’ beloved works, as well as lesser-known plays that have not been widely discussed. All of these plays showcase the range of emotions and issues prominent in the decade of the 1950s-1970s. They provide a glimpse into the world of one of the most important American dramatists of the last century.

This collection is essential not only for fans of Williams’ plays but also for anyone interested in exploring the culture and politics of the 1950-1980s. Tennessee Williams: Plays 1957-1980 offers a unique window into this vibrant and influential period in American theater.