Not "Streetcar," but not bad either

From The Telegraph (London): Phillip Hensher's otherwise sympathetic review of The Notebooks of Tennessee Williams" perpetuates the fallacy that Williams wrote nothing decent after Night of the Iguana. Closer to the truth is that he didn't write another Streetcar Named Desire (or, for that matter, Night of the Iguana) after 1959, but he did pen a number of over-looked and fine plays. I particularly like two from very late in his career -- Vieux Carre and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur. Had they been the work of anybody else, they would have been recognized as talented little gems. The tragedy of Williams' career, of course, was that, after his early successes, good would never be good enough.

Labels: Phillip Hensher, playwrights, playwriting, Tennessee Williams, theatre

 

Play banned for satirizing burka-wearers

From the BBC: The Pakistani government bans a play about the wearing of burkas. The problem appears to be not so much that it satirizes wearing the garment, as it satirizes women who do -- and then go about attacking music and video stores and brothels with batons.

Labels: burkas, Pakistan, playwrights, playwriting, theatre

 

The meaning of Richard McBeef

From the National Post (Canada): Here's my take on the plays of the Virginia Tech killer, and dark and violent writing in general.

Labels: Cho Seung-Hui, playwrights, playwriting, theatre, Virginia Tech