The Playgoer: "Some Problems for the Moose Lodge"

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Friday, April 11, 2008

"Some Problems for the Moose Lodge"

When we look back on Tennessee Williams's oeuvre, we habitually dismiss anything he wrote after, oh, 1960. But write on he did, until his death twenty-three years later.

Gregory Mosher is determined to make us take another look at late Williams, specifically his 1982 A House Not Meant to Stand, billed as "A Gothic Comedy" and described in Variety as "a dark, semi-autobiographical comedy about the fragile state of a family." (I prefer the working title: "Some Problems for the Moose Lodge.") The script is now being published and Mosher is trying to raise interest in a NY production.

Hear hear, I say. Whatever problems the man had, if you care about the great plays, there may be much still learn about them in the "lesser."

2 comments:

Dave said...

As someone who just directed Williams's adaptation of The Sea Gull, I can safely say that some of his later works can be safely ignored. Tennessee had many strengths, but understanding and adapting Chekhov was not one of them.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, some of the lesser/later works are worth skipping. I have read a number of his later short plays though, and they can be quite interesting and are really journey outside the typical Williams repertoire. Check out The Chalky White Substance in 24 Favorite One Act Plays (a great anthology). It's a fascinating read.

Matt
www.lightthelights.com