10 Best Tennessee Williams Plays

Theater without Tennessee Williams would be in the dark ages. Henrik Ibsen and Tennesee Williams were the real thing. They brought up issues in a way that nobody else did before. They opened new horizons.

One could argue that "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale" is the same play as "Summer and Smoke" but "The Eccentricities" is more complex than the first mentioned. The play is set in post WW1 Mississippi, in a fictional town called Glosious Hill. Alma, who is in both variations, is concerned about becoming a spinster, while also teaching singing lessons. She has severe anxiety which her father, reverend Winermiller, her father, tries to conceal. Her mother, Mrs. Winemiller is emotionally distraught, trapped in a childlike state. John Buchanan, Alma's childhood friend, comes back to town as a successful doctor and captures the feelings of Alma who becomes obsessed with John. His mother, Mrs. Buchanan, thinks that John is the greatest man alive to make up for her husbands failure. Other characters from Alma's book club bring a comedic aspect to a play on the darker side. The ending is beautiful and quaint compared to "A Streetcar Named Desire" and a perfect clousure to a splendid ...more