Includes bibliographical references (pages 164-172) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: 'sicker than necessary': Tennessee Williams' theatre of excess -- 1. "Drowned in Rabelaisian laughter": Germans as grotesque comic figures in Williams' plays of the 1960s and '70s -- 2. 'Benevolent anarchy': Williams' late plays and the theatre of cruelty -- 3. 'Writing calls for discipline!': chaos, creativity, and madness in Clothes for a summer hotel -- 4. 'Act naturally': embracing the monstrous woman in The milk train doesn't stop here anymore, The mutilated, and The pronoun 'I' -- 5. 'There's something not natural here': grotesque ambiguities in Kingdom of Earth, A cavalier for Milady and A house not neant to stand -- 6. 'All drama is about being extreme': 'in-yer-face' sex, war, and violence -- Conclusion: 'the only thing to do is laugh'.
Summary:
"The plays of Tennessee Williams' post-1961 period have often been misunderstood and dismissed. In light of Williams' centennial in 2011, which was marked internationally by productions and world premieres of his late plays, Annette J. Saddik's new reading of these works illuminates them in the context of what she terms a "theatre of excess," which seeks liberation through exaggeration, chaos, ambiguity, and laughter. Saddik explains why these plays are now gaining increasing acclaim, and analyzes recent productions that successfully captured elements central to Williams' late aesthetic, particularly a delicate balance of laughter and horror with a self-consciously ironic acting style. Grounding the plays through the work of Bakhtin, Artaud, and Kristeva, as well as through the carnivalesque, the grotesque, and psychoanalytic, feminist, and queer theory, Saddik demonstrates how Williams engaged the freedom of exaggeration and excess in celebration of what he called "the strange, the crazed, the queer.""-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.