Theater Review: Five by Tenn - Five Landmark Plays by Tennessee Williams, New York - Page 10

At long last, Mother is left alone with the Little Girl, who in her innocence declares her unconditional love and faith in Mother. With Manzo’s dark hair and slightly dusky complexion, it is at least possible that she may indeed be Mother’s very own daughter. As she haltingly approaches her with her gently limping gait, the two embrace and Mother and “daughter” both declare their thanks to the Kind Spirit — perhaps the Mother, perhaps the Little Girl, perhaps Williams himself, perhaps all of the above — for permitting them to at long last give and receive the love and tender understanding they have always craved.

The audience is left with an enduring Williams-esque mystery. Is the Kind Spirit male or female, black or white, Williams or DuClos, the Writer or the Young Girl — or perhaps even the audience itself?

One thing seems certain. In Mother DuClos, Williams has at last reinvented himself as the savior he most wanted to personify, namely, the loving mother he and Rose never had. In DuClos are combined the elements of the sacred and profane that made up so much of Williams’s major themes and characters, as well as Williams himself. At long last, Williams/DuClos can confound the boundaries of time and reinvent memory, morphing into the Savior who will not “abandon” his sister to confinement and doom, and the Mother who will protect her young charge from all harm. And the Little Girl in turn, in her still-pure innocence and faith, can forgive the Mother/Author their trespasses as S/He at long last returns, with the help of Vieux Carre Voodoo, to rescue all “three” from an eternity of despair.

The spirit of Williams permeates these one-act plays, at least in a metaphorical sense, and perhaps a more literal one as well. Never a stickler when it came to adaptations of his films or plays to fit the more prudish mores of the time, many have noted that Williams would unabashedly change an ending from sad to happy for a screen adaptation or even amend an actress’s monologue if she found difficulty with it. By the same token, Williams would likely have no qualms about a production of his earlier works from the viewpoint of a more worldly, 21st century perspective. “No play of mine is ever finished,” he once declared, “even after production.”

Williams' work continues to endure, as revivals of his plays continue apace worldwide and seasoned and aspiring actors alike continue to take on his greatest roles. A new digital century seems custom made for further discoveries of yet-undiscovered work, as the Internet makes it easier than ever to unearth the “inventory lists” of even the most obscure collections.

Article Author: Elvira Black

Elvira Black is a “retired” New York writer blogging for her own amusement here on BC. Her passions are politics, the arts, the weird things we do, and New York City.

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