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Four Plays: Summer and Smoke; Orpheus Descending; Suddenly Last Summer; Period of Adjustment (Signet classics)

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Tennessee Williams is so well-known for other plays like "The Glass Menagerie" and "Streetcar Named Desire" that one like me not terribly familiar with him, except via his reputation for overwrought Southern Gothic drama, approaches this collection of Williams' lesser-known plays from his major period with trepidation.

"Four Plays" is pretty Gothic, and sometimes overwrought, but it makes for a pretty immersive read, not to mention a tough-love rollercoaster for the human condition.

Up first is "Summer And Smoke" (1948), a tale of a raucous young medical student and the girl next door who has pined for him since childhood. Right away you get that you are in the hands of an unusual playwright in Williams, who gives very detailed instructions on dressing the set, including which constellations should be projected on the overhead cyclorama during evening scenes and what colors the actors should wear.

Williams is just as controlling with his characterizations. Alma is a sincere, spiritually-inclined woman who tries to bring order to her household, hostage to a crazy mama who spitefully embarrasses Alma and her minister father. John also teases Alma, with talk of sex, yet a curious qualm holds him back from the ravishment he knows could be his at his pleasure: "Many's the time I've looked across at the Rectory and wondered if it would be worth trying, you and me..." That yard's worth of distance is the substance and the tragedy of this curious, arresting play.

The other three plays develop similar dialogues between intimacy and loss. Nowhere in this book does that come out more hot and heavy than "Orpheus Descending" (1957), a play which Williams in an introduction explains was a decades-long labor of love which he never gave up on. In a small southern town, gossip travels quickly, especially when a mysterious man takes a job at a general store owned by a dying man and his wife, who suspects her husband had something to do with the long-ago murder of her father. It all boils up rather quickly and unconvincingly, even for Williams where a certain suspension of disbelief is helpful. Still, you keep reading.

"Suddenly Last Summer" (1958) is the most recognized title, though more for me from the Motels' hit song in 1983. It's a more subtle but just as ripping dramatic piece as "Orpheus". A batty rich widow tries to have her niece lobotomized to destroy her memory of how the widow's son died in Mexico. "My son, Sebastian, was chaste," she declares. "I was the only one in his life who satisfied the demands he made of people."

Sebastian wasn't exactly Ivory Snow-pure, of course, and in the widow's many daiquiri-fueled discursions there's both poignancy and hilarity. Definitely surreal, "Suddenly Last Summer" probably plays better on the page than the stage, as the major plot comes entirely in eyewitness narrative.

"Period Of Adjustment" (1960), the final and last-written of these plays, is my favorite in the crowd, a Christmas tale of domestic dysfunction that plays out as a subdued comedy of manners. A newlywed couple shows up at the door of the groom's Air Force buddy. The honeymoon, it turns out, was over before it started.

Williams sets up a rich satire of middle-class life. The groom fantasizes about raising Texas longhorn cattle, not for beef, but for herding on television. His pal is on the outs with his own wife for a variety of reasons, including the fact he fears she is raising their son to be a sissy by buying him dolls. Williams plays against his M.O. by showcasing a talent for lower-register exposition, realistic dialogue instead of soliloquy, and gentle, effective comedy throughout.

There may not really be a Williams M.O. Sure, there's neurotic women and beefy satyr-like men on display here, but reading these four plays reveals a master of multiple facets, too virtuosic for easy stereotyping. Flawed as they may be, "Four Plays" presents a pretty strong argument for people like me to take Tennessee more seriously.

How beautiful is Tennessee Williams? Consider his affections for his characters. Consider his appreciative and sensuous representations of his Southerness. Consider his status as a male writer whose female characters are the ambitions of American actresses. Arthur Miller, David Mamet and Sam Shepard, all members of the select American Giants Canon, cannot say so much. Edward Albee and Eugene O'Neill also gift wonderful women's parts, but nobody shares the trauma of fagility in a bruising world like Tennessee Williams.
This collection of some of his lesser known works serves as a wonderful entrée to his milieu and brilliance.
Summer and Smoke is a classic of his lesser known plays; a lifetime's changes for Alma and John takes place over a year, where the longings and passions of two people diametrically driven by the spirit and the flesh are danced about: bad timing, self-hatred, the tasks of responsibilities to one's parents, all serve as a foil for something marvelous, and in so doing illuminate the simple and monumental difficulties of love and hope.
Orpheus Descending is the tale of Val Xavier's perilous trip into the fiery heart of a Southern small town, where outsiders are not welcome and sexuality will be burned by the fears of a violent community. Val's stimulation of the hatred and passion inside Lady and the sensuous inspiration of Carol spark the town's leading "citizens" to attack and subdue the whimsy of youth and the hopefulness of true connections. Highlighted by a very expressionistic set design, Williams offers his characters up as martyrs to the truth and the risk of emotional attachment.
Suddenly Last Summer is a shorter piece, a long lone-act that proves a swift example of everything Williamsian. Essentially an expositional exercise in suspense, its tale is of a young doctor's visit to the estate of a wealthy Southern matron (Aunt Venable), who wants to endow the doctor's experiments with lobotomies. Her niece has been acting out and spreading a horrible story about Aunt Venable's son Sebastian and the trauma of the tale is enough to propose a lobotomy for Catherine, her erratic niece. Ultimately the horrific story is revealed, and presents Williams' penchant for extreme people in extreme circumstances and the volatility of being openly and actively indifferent to society's norms and codes of silence.
Period of Adjustment is an odd piece, even for Williams. Of all the plays of his I've read (which is not all of them), it's the only full length piece that has a happy ending. Ironic too as it is about two married couples (never a sub-cultural group to fare well in his work) and the crossing dialogues of a husband from one and a wife from another, frequently about the loathing they feel for their mates. It is subtitled ;or, High Point over a Cavern, no doubt a metaphor for the nature of romance and relationships, marriage and fidelity. It would be a treat to see this performed, as it features a smaller cast than a usual Williams play and has an air of mild charm infused with the banter of tense marriages, and doesn't have the frequent emotionally broken, clipped-wing dreamers associated with the mighty Tennessee.
This publication's plays are not necessarily the same as the Dramatists Plays or Samuel French series, as those represent productions scripts, are usually cut and feature stage directions and set designs that may be specific to that rendering.
Also included in the collection are essays on Summer and Smoke's evolution from Eccentricities of a Nightingale to it's final version. There is also an essay on Williams and another on Battle of Angels becoming Orpheus Descending.
Essential reading for actors, directors and lover of great American literature. Williams is a giant and needs to be read, if one cannot see his art live on stage.

Tennesse Williams has become of my favorite authors, partially due to this book. I have long been a fan of the movie adaptations of his work, but they come nowhere near to the superb quality of the written word. In all of his plays you can get a sense of what the characters are feeling. In most cases those feelings are angst and despair. "Suddenly Last Summer" is by far the best play in this book, but the others are not far behind. The characters in these plays are easy to "see", thanks to Williams' wonderful development. As with every Williams' play, these have surprising twists and revelations throughout. I highly recommend these, and all other Tennessee Williams plays.

Although I do not share the opinion that the quality of Tennessee Williams' plays suffered greatly after 1961's NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, it is true that his work lost favor with the public as he began to abandon conventional narratives in favor of more experimental and absurdist forms, as opposed to the expressionism and Southern Gothic melodrama that first put him on the map with THE GLASS MENAGERIE and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE in the mid-1940s. This collection from Signet Classics brings together four plays from this decade-and-a-half "golden era" in Williams' career, a period that most would call his best and all would agree was his most successful critically and financially.

SUMMER AND SMOKE (1948) is the first play and it comes on the heels of the massive successes of MENAGERIE and STREETCAR. As a result, it is a work that continues in this expressionistic vein, with careful and detailed production notes recalling the former and the sexual angst and human drama of its characters quoting the latter. ORPHEUS DESCENDING (1957) is a remarkably effective reworking of an earlier apprentice play, and it updates the Greek myth within a rural Southern backdrop. In my opinion, it is not only the best play in this collection but one of the playwright's five best works in his entire canon. Next up, and almost just as good, is SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1958), a tremendous psycho-drama that features a climactic monologue that is among the most gripping and nightmarish in American drama. The only real misstep in this collection is PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT (1960), a shamelessly commercial romantic comedy... it is quite inconsequential.

Despite my indifference to the final play of this collection, the value of this small paperback is indisputable. There is more to Tennessee Williams than STREETCAR and MENAGERIE. While his later plays are less accessible (but quite underrated!), this collection is a great and inexpensive way to introduce yourself to more of this fascinating playwright's work. ORPHEUS and SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, in particular, are essential.

This is one of the best plays I've ever read or seen. Definitely one of Williams' best, though I still have not read "The Night of the Iguana," or "The Rose Tattoo." This play is definitely Williams' most brutal, most shocking play. In the introduction to "Sweet Bird of Youth," he says that he only wrote "two violent plays": "Suddenly, and "Sweet Bird..." If you read it (PLEAE do), be prepared- Williams' style is like an extremely complex poem. There are levels to this play, like all of his. Consider the subtext, the allegory... and the LANGUAGE- definitely first-rate and poetic. WONDERFUL.

First, you should read more plays. Second, you should read these plays. Doing so cannot fail to improve your life.

Although I bought this book just for a quick read of Suddenly Last Summer but found all of the other plays in this volume to be delights in their own respect. Each has their ups and downs, but all are undeniably in the style of Tennessee Williams. I think this book is a must read for any true Tennessee fan as it give any reader a fuller look into the style that is Tennessee.

Of the plays that I read, I found them all to have real life aplications. One of the suprising things was that his works were written several years ago but there are still points that he raises that are aplicable to today. Honestly I could not go to bed until I found out how he resolved his conflicts. I will have to read more of his work. He is not that bad for being an english paper topic.