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Splendid 'Hotel Plays' show a young Tennessee Williams finding his recurring themes, characters
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George Sanchez plays Mr. Charlie in 'The Last of My Solid Gold Watches,' one of a quartet of one-act works by Tennessee Williams in 'Hotel Plays,' staged at the Hermann-Grima House as part of the annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Andrew Calhoun, seen in mirror, plays the musician. (Ride Hamilton)
Theodore P. Mahne, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Theodore P. Mahne, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on March 28, 2015 at 10:14 AM, updated March 28, 2015 at 8:05 PM
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One of last year's surprise hits of the annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival was "Hotel Plays," a collection of both early and late-career works by Williams that shared the common thread of being set in a hotel room or rooming house.
Revised this year under the unified vision of a single director, and focusing on four works that were all written in roughly the same period of the playwright's life, "Hotel Plays" is an even better achievement. Not only is it an unqualified hit, it is a concise, revelatory look at characters and themes that Williams would embrace in later, fully developed dramas.
Staged within the rooms and courtyard of the historic Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter, the sense of place resonates through each piece. Divided into groups of about 30, the audiences take in the four plays in different orders as they are maneuvered through the house.
Two of the plays, "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion" and "Mister Paradise," were included in last year's edition of "Hotel Plays." This year's production also includes "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches" and "Lord Byron's Love Letter."
All four were written in the early 1940s, pre-dating Williams' first major success, "The Glass Menagerie." All but "Mister Paradise" were published together in the collection, "27 Wagons Full of Cotton." Rediscovered among Williams' manuscripts in a university repository, "Mister Paradise" was not published until 2005.
As the audience members are escorted from room to room between the plays, they also are given a brief tour of the historic house. These interludes are both practical, allowing one play to be finished before the next, but also serve to transform the house itself into a distinct character of the collected works. One easily can imagine it as an old rooming house in the Vieux Carre of Williams' early days.
In addition, the intimacy of these small works is enhanced by the close quarters of the actors and audiences. When the performers are, at points, literally inches away from the audience, there's no room for false moves.
Director David Kaplan uses that intimacy to tie the four pieces together with the common threads among these characters. Distinctively creatures of the old French Quarter that Williams knew from his earliest visits, they are passionate figures, often artistic, always eccentric, skirting through life on the bohemian edges.
In several cases, they would be almost pitiable. But from the drunken failed poet of "Mister Paradise" to the tired out salesman of "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches," Kaplan and his fine cast of performers find the dignity of each of these characters. They may be fallen figures, and even hope may have faded, but relief, even redemption, remains. Presented together, this quartet of one-acts serves as a collection of poetic snapshots of the human condition. Each character in these four works truly depends on the kindness of strangers.
In "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches," George Sanchez shows what a master he is at creating a character, taking what is a fairly standard archetype -- the run-down salesman -- and... <<<<<< N.B from Jumbotweet: auto-truncated at 4K characters on index page - Click here or on the "view" link to see entire jumbotweet! http://www.jumbotweet.com/ltweets/view/102777