3 Review(s)

In these three exotic, steamy dramas Tennessee Williams portrays loss, faded lives and passionate love affairs. The Rose Tattoo is set in a bustling Sicilian-American community, where newly widowed Serafina is paralysed by grief. But when she has her romantic illusions about her dead husband shattered, she rediscovers her true nature as a fiery prima donna, in a life-affirming celebration of love and sex. Tennessee Williams explored a new 'wild and unrestricted' theatrical form in Camino Real, a colourful tropical fantasy which was described by the New York Times as 'a play of genuinely poetic vision'. Orpheus Descending, however, takes us into the familiar dark territory of Williams's Deep South: the corrupt hell of a small, brutal township, where a forbidden and tragic love affair sparks horrific violence.