The Notebook of Trigorin: A Free Adaptation of Chechkov's the Sea Gull
Description
Tennessee Williams' journey from first reading Chekhov's The Sea Gull to his adaptation of that play as The Notebook of Trigorin mirrored his own creative life. Early on, Williams thought of directing The Sea Gull, and, over the years, often returned to the play, his empathy gradually shifting from Constantine, the youthful experimenter, to Trigorin, the world-weary writer. Williams, in his pursuit of success, had also made compromises. Near the end of his life, Williams realized his dream to interpret The Sea Gull when the University of British Columbia sponsored a production at the Vancouver Playhouse in 1981. This version, The Notebook of Trigorin, brought Chekhov's buried conflicts to the surface, but did not meet Williams expectations, and he was still making revisions to the play when he died in 1983. It was not until 1996, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Sea Gull's first performance, that The Cincinnati Playhouse staged The Notebook of Trigorin as Williams had envisioned it. This edition is based on that production.
Product Details
Price
$15.95
Publisher
New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date
November 01, 1997
Pages
128
Dimensions
5.19 X 7.97 X 0.33 inches | 0.31 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780811213622
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Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams; 1911-83) was a US playwright, whose controversial plays dealt with themes of repressed sexuality and family conflict. Williams was the most popular playwright in America between 1945 and 1960, winning the Pulitzer Prize twice and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award four times. Amongst serious playwrights, only Eugene O'Neill equalled his achievements on the Broadway stage; several of Williams's plays were also made into successful films. The son of a shoe salesman, Williams grew up in some poverty in Mississippi and Missouri. Many of his early frustrations, which are reflected in his plays, arose from the prudery of his mother and the coarseness of his womanizing father, who, as his son's homosexuality became apparent, invariably referred to him as 'Miss Nancy'. The playwright revealed his homosexuality in his Memoirs (1975), having previously explored the subject in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer. Williams tried his hand at fiction and poetry before turning to drama in the late 1930s, winning a Theatre Guild prize for the four one-act plays entitled American Blues in 1939. Recognition as a major playwright came with The Glass Menagerie, a tender work inspired by the tragic life of his sister, a schizophrenic. His next play, the brutal A Streetcar Named Desire, opened in 1947, winning the Pulitzer Prize and making a star of Marlon Brando. It was followed a year later by Summer and Smoke. In 1949, these three plays were running simultaneously in London. His later works included The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real (1953), Orpheus Descending (1957), and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1959), which opened with Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in the leads. By the late 1950s, Williams was being accused of repeating himself, and after Period of Adjustment (1960) and The Night of the Iguana (1961), his plays were received unenthusiastically. During his later years, Williams became increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol, suffering a nervous breakdown in 1969. He died in 1983.
Allean Hale, writer and poet, was the leading authority on the early life and late plays of Tennessee Williams.
Allean Hale, writer and poet, was the leading authority on the early life and late plays of Tennessee Williams.