| Vieux Carré | - By Tennesse Williams
- Library Theatre, St Peter's Square
- Mon-Thu 7.30pm; Fri/Sat 8pm
- Thurs and Sat Mats from Sat Oct 28th
- Tickets: 0161 236 7110
- www.librarytheatre.com
- NB. Vieux Carre is an adult play and contains nudity and sexual imagery
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Famed for A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams eventually ran out of luck: in 1973 Out Cry closed within a week, when Vieux Carré opened in New York in 1977, it closed after just five performances; a pattern which was set to continue until his death in 1983. Little surprise then that Vieux Carré is a rarely staged play. Sarah Williamson’s ghostly set ekes the spidery tone of a low-rent boarding house situated in the Old Quarter of New Orleans. This is trademark Williams: here characters inhabit a poor and decaying world, the climate is debilitating and grotesque beings swarm around central protagonist, The Writer (played by Mark Arends).
 | | Robert Demeger (Nightingale)+ The Writer |
There’s the general sense that life should be better: Jane (Ruth Gibson) is a New Yorker with class who is shacked up with alcoholic bully, Tye (Nathan Nolan), predatory homosexual, Nightingale, (Robert Demeger) is an artist yearning for respect, Mary Maud (Gillian Axtell) and Miss Carrie (Marianne Morley) are two elderly women, with good family connections, on the brink of starvation. Lording over these inmates is Mrs Wire (Frances Jeater) a cruel proprietress cared for only by Nursie (Yvonne Brewster).
Loneliness rips through the characters like a disease. Even the big hearted Nursie would rather be a bag lady than traipse the stairs at Mrs Wires’ every yell and whim. As the play progresses, things go from terrible to worse: death, madness and addiction crawl through the windows up the stairs and through the hallway. Wretched lives cross-pollute and the smell of food from the kitchen mingles with shouts, cries, lovemaking, violence and sickness in the rooms. It is only The Writer who escapes. | "A challenging and troubling play, but stick with it – the ascent may be somewhat slow, but the crash is shattering." | | Maria Roberts, reviewer |
Directed by Roger Haines this is a must-see for Williams’ fans, if only for its semi-autobiographical nature. As a struggling writer Tennessee hocked his belongings and lived at a boarding house on 722 Toulouse Street, New Orleans. The play looks back to the writer’s early homosexual experiences and recollects the people that influenced his work. Nudity and explicit language strut in and out of the production. There are a couple of pretty nasty scenes too, making this play unsuitable for a younger audience. Strong performances come from a ten strong cast; Ruth Gibson is particularly impressive as Jane. This is a challenging and troubling play, but stick with it – the ascent may be somewhat slow, but the crash is shattering. PLEASE NOTE: Vieux Carre is an adult play and contains nudity and sexual imagery |
