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Sweet Bird of Youth
Sweet Bird of Youth
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Author: Tennessee Williams Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 72 Pub. Date: 1962 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822211041 ISBN-13: 9780822211044 Cast Size: 7 female, 15 male
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About the Play:
Sweet Bird of Youth has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Male Monologues, Female/Male Scenes and, Male/Male Scenes.
Sweet Bird of Youth is a full-length drama by Tennessee
Williams. A local boy gone bad returns to his home town with an
aging movie actress to reclaim his childhood sweetheart, but must
face the brutal truth – lost innocence is impossible to resurrect
but shame and regret live on forever.
Sweet Bird of Youth is a steamy and haunting portrait of a
fading movie star and the desperate silver-screen wannabe. As New
York Newsday describes: "Its two central characters are
the Princess, an aging motion picture actress in flight from her
latest screen disaster, and Chance Wayne, a young hustler whom she
has picked up. Taking advantage of her drunkenness and his youth and
good looks, he manages to lure her to the Southern town of his birth
in order to see again a young girl with whom he has had an affair and
whom he still loves. Word of his arrival spreads like contagion
through the small town. Boss Finley, a political despot and father of
the young girl, is especially interested. What Chance does not know
is that unwittingly he has infected the girl and ever since the Boss,
his sadistic son and his toadies have lain in wait for his return and
for their revenge. Chance's scheme is to use the Princess to promote
a motion picture career for himself and his girl. Naturally this
falls afoul and in the end the avengers are about to close in on the
passively waiting Chance, who has been deserted by his patroness and
far worse, by his youth." Tennessee Williams' wrenching
yet mordantly funny meditation on lost innocence and corruption
reveals the dark consequences of the American search for perennial
youth and fame. Chance Wayne, evokes an era of repressive social
strictures where love, sexual passion and redemption are thwarted.
Williams' theatrical language is thrilling, mesmerizing and quite
beautiful.
Sweet Bird of Youth opened in 1959 on Broadway at the Martin
Beck Theatre in New York City and ran for 375 performances. The
play has seen Broadway revivals in both 1975 and 2012, has become a
favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops, and
has been
mounted in
regional
repertory,
college, and community theatre productions.
Cast: 7 female, 15 male
What people say:
"Once again a bolt of thunder
has been hurled by that Jovian playwright, Tennessee
Williams, and the theatre reverberates to its roar."
— New York Newsday
"Tennessee Williams
recently said something about getting tired of delivering
blockbusters to Broadway, but he has certainly provided one in Sweet
Bird of Youth … written with enormous dramatic drive…it
is a play of overwhelming force." — New York Post
"…Despite the acrid nature
of its material, Sweet Bird of Youth is Mr.
Williams in a relaxed mood as a writer … Sweet Bird of
Youth is one of his finest dramas." — New
York Times
About the Playwright:
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), one of the 20th century's
most superb writers, was also one of its most successful and
prolific. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi, where his grandfather
was the Episcopal clergyman. When his father, a travelling salesman,
moved with his family to St. Louis some years later, both he and his
sister found it impossible to settle down to city life. He entered
college during the Depression and left after a couple of years to
take a clerical job in a shoe company. He stayed there for two years,
spending the evening writing. He entered the University of Iowa in
1938 and completed his course, at the same time holding a large
number of part-time jobs of great diversity. He was awarded four
Drama Critic Circle Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes and the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
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