The Glass Menagerie. A Streetcar Named Desire. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Just three in an awesome string of remarkable and still performed plays from indisputably one of the top American playwrights in the twentieth century. Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams dives into the period leading up to the triumphal success of Menagerie on Broadway.
Much is known about this man. This solo show opens with Tom (his given name) grabbing a bottle of liquor saying “look what I found”. Events, people and mental health are explored in a serious yet conversational way. Tennessee Rising links his formative experiences with the prodigious creative output which followed.
Writer Jacob Storms narrates this memory play as if audience members are invited guests to his parlor. Travels are recounted with witty asides. New Orleans is a “languorous Gomorrah”. Los Angeles features a “grotesque neon waterfall with plastic flowers poking out”. Regarding his upbringing: “a Saint Louis burial would be a fate worse than death”. The “kindness of strangers” is referred to multiple times.
Descriptive language is often interesting during this exploration of literary genius. Mr. Storms also introduces many relationships which later emerge as classic characters in his plays. Stanley Kowalski was a coworker at a shoe factory. A society dame from a party he attended was nicknamed Maggie the Cat. His sister’s fragility and mental illness informed Laura Wingfield and her menagerie.
The source references become a little overstuffed. On a beach Tennessee sees an iguana, presumably the visual which years and years later inspired Night of the Iguana. Much stronger than the one off notations, however, are the deeper dives into key early romantic relationships.
Events leading up to America’s participation in World War II are touched upon. While some of that material is familiar, there is a stinging accusation to American capitalists of industry who enabled Hitler. I recalled an Oscar nominated documentary called A Night at the Garden. This seven minute found footage was from a packed 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden. Americans eagerly signing up for authoritarianism. This sidebar felt a little off topic but nevertheless colors the period of Tennessee’s formative years.
Fans of juicy gossip will find mentions of Lana Turner, Joan Crawford and Tallulah Bankhead. Less familiar names such as the poet Hart Crane sent me googling to learn about his influences. There is a ton of material here – perhaps too much – so depth is sacrificed for inclusion.
Alan Cumming directed Mr. Storms. At first I was enjoying the suggestive lighting. The sunlight on the beach in Malibu. Darker hues at a mental institution. The effects became piled on too frequently and distracted such as multiple lightning effects. Visiting a table toward the back of the stage forced the performance away from the listener.
At its core, Tennessee Rising is a thought provoking study into the developing mind of a literary heavyweight. Listening to phrases like “familial treason” and “maternal jailer” succinctly capture the spirits which haunt Mr. Williams’ finest work. Fans of this playwright and those seeking a demonstrable connection between personal experience and its influence on the creative process will find much to consider here.
Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams is being performed on Sundays through April 2, 2023 in the very impressive newly restored AMT Theater.