TROPES OF TENNESSEE

A TROPE IS A RECURRENT THEME OR ESCAPING REALITY MOTIF IN BODIES OF LITERATURE. Some secrets In the work of many of are not meant THERE ARE MANY TROPES THAT CAN the characters seek to escape their realities. In to be kept. BE FOUND THROUGHOUT TENNESSEE Mrs Venable’s vicious determination to evade the reality of her son’s WILLIAMS’ CANON OF WORK. BELOW sexuality and her own wrongdoings leads IS A BRIEF OUTLINE OF TROPES Mrs Venable to put Catharine in an asylum and order her to be lobotomised. Tom escapes FOUND IN SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, reality in by going to the THE GLASS MENAGERIE AND A movies and writing poems, while his sister Laura escapes the reality of her mother’s STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. unrealistic expectations by retreating in to the world of her glass menagerie. Blanche escapes AGE AND BEAUTY her reality in by concocting detailed lies about her luxurious The older female characters in Tennessee life and lovers – “I don’t want realism. I want Williams’ works struggle to accept that they magic! Yes, yes, magic. […] I don’t tell truths. I are aging and that beauty is evanescent. In tell what ought to be truth.” Suddenly Last Summer Mrs Venable denies having suffered a stroke and instead describes MEMORY PLAYS it as an aneurysm. Her belief in staying young is summarised when she says, “Both of us were Tennessee Williams plays are semi- young, and stayed young…” (pg.246) In A autobiographical and reflect events of the past. PRESENTS Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois also Williams’ relationship with his mother was TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ has a fear of aging. She refuses to reveal her strained, and her personality is reflected in age or be caught in a harsh light that would the characters of Amanda and Mrs Venable. expose her faded looks. In The Glass Menagerie, Both Laura and Catharine are modelled Amanda Wingfield is a southern belle from a on Williams’ sister Rose, who underwent a SUDDENLY bygone era. She clings fervently to the days of lobotomy. The most notable similarity is the her youth and constantly delivers long character of Tom in The Glass Menagerie who monologues to her children about her represents Tennessee Williams himself. Many LAST SUMMER memories of glamorous balls and gentleman comparisons can be drawn between the two, callers. In Act Two, she appears wearing her SYDNEYTHEATRE.COM.AU 9250 1777 A MASTERFUL BLEND OF THEATRE AND LIVE VIDEO as Williams, like Tom, worked in a shoe factory 9 FEB – 21 MAR 2015 MEDIA PARTNER TAKES YOU INSIDE THIS EXTRAORDINARY TALE LIKE DRAMA THEATRE, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE SYDNEYOPERAHOUSE.COM 9250 7777 NEVER BEFORE. debutant dress which she proudly still fits in to. and also turned to movies and writing as a

DIRECTOR LIGHTING DESIGNER WITH JOIN THE CONVERSATION AUDI NIGHT WITH KIP WILLIAMS DAMIEN COOPER ERYN JEAN NORVILL @SYDNEYTHEATRECO THE ACTORS PARTNER form of escape. DESIGNER COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER MELITA JURISIC SUSAN PRIOR #STCSUDDENLYLASTSUMMER ALICE BABIDGE STEFAN GREGORY BRANDON McCLELLAND MARK LEONARD WINTER ROBYN NEVIN

Photo James Green Created by Hannah Brown for STC Education. ©