By Jim Rutter
FOR THE INQUIRER
Memories of trauma tormented Tennessee Williams most of his adult life. His father bullied him, his lover died young from cancer, his family had his sister, Rose, lobotomized. In his later years, Williams (1911-1983) coped with a deluge of alcohol, amphetamines and barbiturates. He choked on a bottle cap and died alone in a New York hotel room.
Anyone could learn the above from Williams’ Wikipedia page; a new creative work that attempts to dramatize his final moments must transcend available information. The solid production at South Camden Theatre Company can’t save the world premiere of Joseph M. Paprzycki’s Tennessee’s Final Curtain from failing in this crucial respect.
In Paprzycki’s play, Williams (Kenneth John McGregor) stumbles into set designer Robert Bingaman’s well-appointed suite, guzzling a glass of wine, the portentous pill bottle perched on the bar nearby. He opens the door to reveal … a young bellhop (Jihad Milhelm), bringing in booze and the bulk of the evening’s boring conversation. The kid moonlights as an actor, and the two pepper the other with questions about Williams’ dramas. Who inspired Stanley? Do you prefer a Blanche or a Stella? How am I a Brick type?
Is this a play or class in literary analysis?
Thirty minutes into this 90-minute two-act, a reference to Streetcar awakens memories. A panel in the wall illuminates, revealing Williams’ father (William Rahill) in relief. He steps from behind the wall and begins ridiculing his son. Later, Rose (Tenley Gwen Bank) arrives from memory to offer comfort.
The bellhop remains in the room even when Williams lunges at these imaginary characters with a knife. Instead of running out, he asks, “Who else visits you, Tom?” Anything to get into showbiz, I guess.Superb acting and engaging direction surpass the script’s shortcomings. McGregor compliments his spot-on gravely, lilting Southern drawl with the mannerisms of a battered ego clinging three-fingers on the edge of paranoia. The remaining cast equals his performance in tenor, though not depth. But what more could they do, when Paprzycki wrote a one-man play with three superfluous parts?
Allen Radway’s nuanced direction and Andrew Cowles lighting enable smooth transitions from Williams’ imagination to reality. Collectively, the cast and crew kept me interested far more than warranted by an exercise in solipsism that offered neither insight nor resolution.
***
Tennessee’s Final Curtain: presented by South Camden Theatre Company, 400 Jasper Street Camden, NJ. Through Feb. 26. Tickets: $15. Information: 856-409-0365 or southcamdentheatre.org
That's some awful strong criticism from a blogger who can't manage to get an accurate title attached to his article. Makes me wish the Inquirer sent a real theatre critic instead. Seems to me this piece wasn't a review at all; just a half-thought literary critique that ignored the central conceit of the the play: it's a play. It's also a darn shame this article won't do any favors for nine tenths of playgoers. Biographies are for background; plays are about results. This one showed the results, and brought Williams's demons to life... at least for those of us who don't do our research on Wikipedia.— GSikowski
Howard Shapiro reviews and writes about theater for The Inquirer, and has been on staff since 1970. He's had many posts at the newspaper, including cultural arts editor and editor of the Weekend section. He's twice been the editor of the Travel section, for which he writes frequently. He began writing theater criticism a decade ago, and has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, an Internews fellow in Greece, and a fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts' Journalism Institutue in Theater and Musical Theater, where Robert Brustein was among his mentors. He teaches arts criticism and travel writing at Temple University, and is Broadway critic for the NPR-affliated stations of the Classical Network.
Toby Zinman's night job since 2006 is theater critic for the Inquirer. She also is a contributing writer for Variety and American Theatre magazine. Her day job: Prize-winning prof at UArts, author of four books about four playwrights (Rabe, McNally, Miller, Albee), and doer of scholarly deeds (winner of five NEH grants, Fulbright lecturer at Tel Aviv University, visiting professor in China). Her 'weekend' job as a travel writer provides adventure: dogsledding in the Yukon, ziplining in Belize, walking coast-to-coast across England, and cowboying in the Australian Outback.
Wendy Rosenfield has been writing freelance features and theater reviews for The Inquirer since 2006. She was theater critic for the Philadelphia Weekly from 1995 to 2001, after which she enjoyed a five-year baby-raising sabbatical. She also writes the ArtsJournal blog Drama Queen. She was 2009 and 2010 Guest Critic for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's Region II National Critics Institute, a 2008 NEA Fellow in Theater and Musical Theater, and a participant in the Bennington Writer's Workshop. A graduate of Bennington College, she is inching toward a Master's degree in Liberal Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. She also is a fiction writer, was proofreader to a swami, publications editor for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and a Brownie Girl Scout troop leader.
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