The Two-Character Play

by Tennessee Williams

A classic play by Tennessee Williams in a definitive, author-approved edition. Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as two actors on tour―brother and sister―find themselves deserted by the trope in a decrepit "state theatre in an unknown state." Faced (perhaps) by an audience expecting a performance, they enact "The Two-Character Play"―an illusions within an illusion, and "out cry" from isolation, panic and fear. "I think it is my most beautiful play since Streetcar ," Tennessee Williams said, "and I've never stopped working on it....It is a cri de coeur , but then all creative work,all life, in a sense is a cri de coeur ."

In the course of its evolution, several earlier versions of The Two-Character Play have been produced. The first of them was presented in 1967 in London and Chicago and brought out in 1969 by New Directions in a signed limited edition. The next, staged in 1973 in New York under the title Out Cry , was published by New Directions in 1973 The third version (New York, 1975), again titled The Two-Character Play , is the one Tennessee Williams wished to include in New Directions' The Theatre of Tennessee Williams series. It is this version which is presented in this ND paperback.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Ebooks, Classics, Fiction, Drama, The United States Of America

Paperback

First published January 17, 1979

About the author

Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth.

Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Imogen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful and weird.
Beautiful and broken.
I performed this with a friend in my 3rd year of University.
The audience told me afterwards that they didn't understand.
I told them that meant we had done it justice.

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I was expecting when I heard about Williams' later work being much more bizarre than his previous work. It reminds me of a Charlie Kaufman script, and with everything being so meta and self-referential now, this play feels very "fresh" to me. Two people, trapped in a theater, performing a flop play with no ending, and the lines between the play and the play within the play blur and enfold each other in the end. I would love to see this one performed.

[Gonçalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to watch this play

[Julija · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow what a play

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

People who say William's later work was far from his best, it seems haven't read Two Character Play. A force on the page and one that I hope to one day bring to the stage.

[Nemanja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pozorište je opstajalo, trudeći se da nam približi svet umetnosti, komedije i drame. Uspevalo je, mada je kao institucija počelo da devalvira ulaskom u 21. vek zbog sve popularnih masovnih medija, trenutna situacija je najteži udarac koje je ova institucija doživela do sada.
Tenesi Vilijams, autora brojnih dramskih ostvarenja slavu duguje svojim najznačajnijih delima, koja su imala sreću da sa dasaka koje život znače zasijaju i na bioskopskim platnima.
Komad sa dva lica sam autor je svrstao u svoje drugo omiljeno delo, mada publika širom sveta nepravedno nikada nije ni čula za njega.
Komad sa dva lica je drama napisana kroz dramsku strategiju zvanu fikcije unutar druge fikcije. Čini je dva čina i dva lika. Brat i sestra, Filis i Kler glumci koji putuje po američkom jugu, izvodeći predstavu života.
Bivaju ostavljeni u gradiću od strane svog ansambla, usred pozorišta i rekvizita za komad koji je napisao Filis. Komad sa dva lica, koji je ujedno i njihova lična tragedija, trauma iz detinjstva u kojoj su se njihovi roditelji međusobno poubijali revolverom. Takav događaj im ostavlja budućnost obeležen traumama i lišava ih svega lepog te im ne dozvoljavam da se ikada više vrate na staro, niti da se uklope u normalno. Ismevani od strane zajednice, i zarobljeni unutar svoga doma, oni čak gordo odbijajući bilo kakvu pomoć socijalne službe. Takav komad oni uvek igraju za publiku koja čak ni nije zainteresovana za delo. S obzirom da oboje imaju mentalne probleme tokom izvođenja dela oboje jedno drugog napadaju, zaboravljaju i menjaju tekst, proživljavajući ličnu tragediju iznova i iznova. Dok ne dođe kraj komada i spletoma okolnosti oni ne ostanu zaključani u pozorištu. "Oduvek sam podozrevala da je pozorište zatvor za glumce".
Razočarani stvarnošću u kojoj su se vratili, nemajući kud nakon kraja komada oboje uplašeni se odlučuju za beg u komad čiji je kraj izmenjen i koji predviđa zajedničko samoubistvo. Bez obzira na njihovu mržnju koju osećaju ni jedno od njih dvoje nema snage da povuče obarač i konačno završi komad. Zavesa se spušta i oni ostaju sami u tami. To je prirodan kraj dela, ali ne i kraj njihove lične tragedije koja će se ponavljati iznova i iznova.

[Tomas Caldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have, at worst, a boundless admiration and at best a resounding love of Williams' more esoteric works, from his vague, dreadful (in the adjective form of 'inspiring dread', rather than a marker of quality) short plays like These Are The Stairs You Got To Watch and Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen, to his later, confoundingly abstract full-length plays like this - a slippery meta-play of theatre/theatre-within-theatre/life-art boundary-erosions, a mounting existential horror that threatens, and eventually entirely consumes, the piece, inspiring the same pre-apocalyptic dread as Pinter's 'Comedy of Menace' schtick. All the while, though, this is adornment in service of a relatively (narratively) straightforward yet emotionally thorny, nihilistic and highly internal drama the likes of which Williams had always excelled at - truthfully, this isn't too far at all from something like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; the ingredients are all there, just... jumbled a little. The internal has bled into the external just a little more; expressionism becomes impressionism, becomes the Absurd. Maybe that harms its claims to being 'groundbreaking' or whatever, but it still makes for striking, powerful goddamn theatre. Would love to see it performed someday

[Edna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is full of spoilers so press on cautiously.
Clare is in an unheated dressing room in a state theater of an unknown state. Clare and Felice are to perform a play. Seems as though they are prisoners in their own home which they call a theater. Apparently Claire does not want to do the play and Felice calls her a drunk bitch and slut. The curtain rises. Felice sleeps in the death chamber. Apparently the parents are dead. Apparently a murder suicide. Someone knocks at the door and leaves a paper under it something called “citizens relief”. They have to go to Grossman‘s market, to see about their fathers insurance claim. now they want to change the story that it was the mother who killed the father then killed her self so they could collect the insurance. They never get to go to the market they are afraid to go out. She picks up the gun to kill Felise but somehow cannot. The curtain Falls and it is the end of the two character play. It seems that this play took place in their actual home it was very difficult to make sense of what was happening.

[Jojo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: Two siblings, Clare and Felice, are actors who seem to be down on their luck both in money and career. They are putting on a play called "The Two Character Play" in which they play brother and sister whose parents have died in questionable circumstances. Apparently their father shot the mother and then himself. Now the duo are trying to get an insurance pay out but it's not looking so good plus the two seem to be recluses. The play ends and Clare and Felice realize they have been locked inside the theater after the audience walked out on the play...the two begin enacting the same place once again.
Review: This one wasn't really my cup of tea but I will give credit to T.W. because it is unique and different from most of his other plays. Overall though I just didn't get it.
Grade: D

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

An attempt at a somewhat absurdist meta play but not the best that I’ve read. I’d still like to see this play performed live though.

[Russell Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging Play

Challenging read. I will have to reread to get a better understanding of the play. I never got into the flow of what was going on.

[Dani Kass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a trippy read. A play about a play, where the play and real life interweave endlessly. It's suffocating and hopeless, but also lovely and poetic.

[Georgia Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It shocks me that this play had an unfavourable reception from critics. Whilst it’s a dramatic shift from Williams’s usual expressionist plays, it should absolutely be viewed and celebrated in its own right. The fact that Williams could oscillate between these differing dramatic movements is a clear indicator of his phenomenal talent.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[rania · Rating 4 out of 5]

went to see this at hampstead theatre !!! felt like psychosis on stage i loved this

[Nsikan Akpan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the hell did I just read, Tennessee???
Perhaps it’s a lot better when performed???

[Anna C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the weird, avant-garde, late stage Tennessee Williams that you've been warned about...

[Olly Cockrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would like to see this performed ….

[Ian McNair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading a play is a poor substitute for watching skilled actors bring a text to life.

[Msatomicblonde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one abt 3 years ago now and still think about it about twice a week

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doing this in class, I really like this play. It's not like Williams' other plays at all. It's about a brother and sister trapped alone in a theater performing a play that has no end. Really kooky and fun. I think very autobiographical, since Williams' sister was the basis for so many of his female characters, and in a way, he spent his life locked up in his mind with his sister, wondering if he was going to be crazy like her and working her into all these plays.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say this is a departure for Tennessee Williams. He sounds a lot more like Beckett here than himself. In this odd two-hander, two sibling actors babble to each other about their unclear feelings and their fragmented past while touring a play. It seems to show Williams exploring his relationship with his own sister in an abstract way, presenting their unbreakable knot through experimental dialogue and tenderness.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is kind of like a very bleak and bizarre sequel to the Glass Menagerie and it makes me want to dig a well, jump into the well, and replenish a water supply with my tears forever. And then write a play about it.