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فترة التوافق
As described in the NY Times: "Mr. Williams is telling the story of two marriages at points of acute crisis. One couple has just broken up after five years together. The other has not been able to come to terms in one day of wedlock. Both couples are living through a period of adjustment. The phrase is tinged with irony. The play examines the sources of the crisis. Ralph Bates, a former war hero, has in-law trouble. George Haverstick, a war buddy who unexpectedly visits him on Christmas Eve with his bride of a day, has the shakes; his difficulty seems to be a fear of impotence. The end is happy, as comedy requires. The four go to bed in the right combinations." In calling his play a "serious comedy," Mr. Williams puts his finger on its most unique aspect, for this is a work which combines a humorous viewpoint with deep-seated concern for a very real, human situation.
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Tennessee Williams
755 books3,708 followersThomas 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 14, 2020
"This suburb is built over a huge underground cavern."
In 1960, after half a decade of crafting dramas centered around overbearing father figures (Big Daddy in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, say) or outright grotesquerie (SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER), Tennessee Williams turned his talents to a more conventional battle-of-the-sexes comedy, though one with serious streaks and mixed results.
It is Christmas Eve in High Point, a suburb of "Dixon" (actually Memphis). Newlyweds George and Isobel shudder to a stop in his aging Cadillac outside the home of his old Air Force buddy, Ralph. Yet Ralph's wife has just walked out on him. Getting her back, temporarily calling a truce in the battle of the sexes, and putting the older generation in its place are the main plot points here.
Williams gets in some satirical swipes: TV (and TV commercials) dominate the scene, Christmas carolers distract the fighting, and the compromises and conformity of modern suburban life make for unfortunate situations. (He wanted a Doberman. She wanted a Poodle. They settled on a Cocker Spaniel.) The affordable stucco tract house straddles a cavern subject to periodic tremors, a sure symbol for the fragility of modern life.
PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT is far from the realm of Williams' greater plays, but devotees of the playwright may want to read this one or watch the so-so 1962 movie based on it starring Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton.
In 1960, after half a decade of crafting dramas centered around overbearing father figures (Big Daddy in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, say) or outright grotesquerie (SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER), Tennessee Williams turned his talents to a more conventional battle-of-the-sexes comedy, though one with serious streaks and mixed results.
It is Christmas Eve in High Point, a suburb of "Dixon" (actually Memphis). Newlyweds George and Isobel shudder to a stop in his aging Cadillac outside the home of his old Air Force buddy, Ralph. Yet Ralph's wife has just walked out on him. Getting her back, temporarily calling a truce in the battle of the sexes, and putting the older generation in its place are the main plot points here.
Williams gets in some satirical swipes: TV (and TV commercials) dominate the scene, Christmas carolers distract the fighting, and the compromises and conformity of modern suburban life make for unfortunate situations. (He wanted a Doberman. She wanted a Poodle. They settled on a Cocker Spaniel.) The affordable stucco tract house straddles a cavern subject to periodic tremors, a sure symbol for the fragility of modern life.
PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT is far from the realm of Williams' greater plays, but devotees of the playwright may want to read this one or watch the so-so 1962 movie based on it starring Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton.
August 29, 2018
I guess this counts as Williams' Christmas story, and for him, its rather upbeat. It's Christmas Eve. A couple who eloped the day before stops in Memphis at the house of an air force buddy of the new husband. The flew bombers in the Korean War, but have been leading disappointing lives since leaving the service.
The Memphis buddy, Ralph, married an unattractive woman on the promise that he would become the heir to her father's company and fortune. As a friend of mine used to say: "Anyone who marries for money earns every penny of it." Instead of dying off soon, the father in law has remained in good health, and kept Ralph under his thumb. Ralph and his wife have a kid, who does not appear, and Ralph accuses his wife of turning the boy into a "sissy." That morning, his wife left him because he quit his job. He is contemplating an escape. His big plan is to move to West Texas and raise longhorns -- not for meat, but for the dignity of the animal and of being a cowboy, I suppose.
George and his wife Isobel are also having problems. The didn't consummate their marriage on the wedding night. Rather, she slept, dressed, on a chair in a motel. Now George isn't talking to her, except to insult her and call her a "bitch." She is determined to go back home to her father and mother. It's not quite clear whether George, who has an undiagnosable condition of the shakes, was impotent (he was drunk), or whether Isobel simply refused.
By the end, everything resolves and the couples are back together. That, in itself, is unusual for Williams, and I attribute it to Christmas. It also makes for a rather dull play. The air goes out of the balloon quite suddenly, without popping, and its especially unclear why George and Isobel reconcile. Moreover, I just couldn't care. Typically, Williams writes really interesting characters, even when, and perhaps especially when, they are dislikable. Here, he has managed to create four main characters who would all be thoroughly dislikable, if you could work up enough feeling about them to dislike them.
Not one of his better works.
The Memphis buddy, Ralph, married an unattractive woman on the promise that he would become the heir to her father's company and fortune. As a friend of mine used to say: "Anyone who marries for money earns every penny of it." Instead of dying off soon, the father in law has remained in good health, and kept Ralph under his thumb. Ralph and his wife have a kid, who does not appear, and Ralph accuses his wife of turning the boy into a "sissy." That morning, his wife left him because he quit his job. He is contemplating an escape. His big plan is to move to West Texas and raise longhorns -- not for meat, but for the dignity of the animal and of being a cowboy, I suppose.
George and his wife Isobel are also having problems. The didn't consummate their marriage on the wedding night. Rather, she slept, dressed, on a chair in a motel. Now George isn't talking to her, except to insult her and call her a "bitch." She is determined to go back home to her father and mother. It's not quite clear whether George, who has an undiagnosable condition of the shakes, was impotent (he was drunk), or whether Isobel simply refused.
By the end, everything resolves and the couples are back together. That, in itself, is unusual for Williams, and I attribute it to Christmas. It also makes for a rather dull play. The air goes out of the balloon quite suddenly, without popping, and its especially unclear why George and Isobel reconcile. Moreover, I just couldn't care. Typically, Williams writes really interesting characters, even when, and perhaps especially when, they are dislikable. Here, he has managed to create four main characters who would all be thoroughly dislikable, if you could work up enough feeling about them to dislike them.
Not one of his better works.
March 15, 2018
This Williams play had potential for 4 stars but it wrapped itself up too nicely. Act 3 could have been a real tension builder and character changer after the first two acts, instead, all possible outcomes explored in terms of relationship demises are ignored. It's a little too sugar sweet and left me wondering what was the point of reading it? It's a shame really because I did like the characters.
August 3, 2023
“the human heart would never pass the drunk test. if you took the human heart out of the human body and put a pair of legs on it and told it to walk a straight line, it couldn’t do it. it never could pass the drunk test.”
3.5 ⭐️: coulda been gayer, coulda been more tense !
3.5 ⭐️: coulda been gayer, coulda been more tense !
December 26, 2023
"Περίοδος Προσαρμογής", είναι το χρονικό διάστημα που χρειάζεται κάποιος για να συμβιβαστεί με την ιδέα μια ζωής κατώτερες από εκείνη που είχε φανταστεί - Tennessee Williams
December 5, 2020
Period Of Adjustment
Sandwiched between "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "The Night of the Iguana", Tennessee Williams' 1960 play, "Period of Adjustment" is a deliberate attempt to write in a lighter vein. Williams had been criticized for writing dark tragic dramas full of tormented individuals and lurid sex and violence. When a critic accused Williams of "plunging into the sewers", he tried to shift away in "Period of Adjustment" and express himself differently. Williams' subtitled the work "High Point Over a Cavern" because the action of the play takes place in a house over a slowly-shifting geological fault, and "A Serious Comedy". The play lacks the force and passion of Williams' darker works, but it does not deserve dismissal. It describes the rekindling of efforts of love and of two couples getting along in situations that had seemed hopeless.
The three-act play is set on a Christmas Eve in the late 1950s in a Memphis home gradually shifting into a fault. Ralph and Dorothy Bates own the home. They have been married for five years with a small son. Dorothy has just walked out of the house when she learns that Ralph has quit his job working as a clerk for her wealthy father. The other couple, George and Isabel Haverstick, have been married for one day. Ralph and George are old army buddies from the Korean War. The newlyweds pay Ralph and Dorothy a visit. They are getting along poorly, after their day of married life, and have not consummated their relationship.
Ralph and George catch up with each other. Ralph claims to feel no passion for his wife. She is physically unattractive and Ralph confesses to marrying her largely because of her family money and the possibility of a job. George has been in and out of hospitals following the Korean War. He suffers from a case of nervous shaking which the doctors are unable to diagnose or cure. Isabel worked as a nurse and cared for George during his most recent hospitalization, and the two apparently got married on an impulse. With Isabel leaving her job, neither of them have work or money. They drive to see Ralph and Dorothy in a cheap battered old Cadillac that had seen long service as a funeral hearse. Unlike the two men, Dorothy and Isabel had no prior acquaintance with each other.
Williams' describes the conflicts between the two couples and the relationships that develop among the four people. Each person shows substantial insight into the problems of the other couple with far less insight into his or her own problems. Each shows signs of insecurity, loneliness, cynicism, impotence, frigidity, or nervous disorders -- conditions that make their appearance in many Williams' plays. In this play, the issues are not deeply explored. Both couples' resolve their difficulties, at least temporarily. Ralph and Dorothy reconcile and perhaps appreciate each other more than they did before Dorothy walked out. George and Isabel consummate their marriage and appear willing to make an effort with one another.
The play is enjoyable if on the whole it does not sharply probe its characters or situations. It is much easier to read than several of Williams' other, more complex dramas. Williams said that "Period of Adjustment" "isn't my best by a long shot, but is nevertheless as honest a play as I've written." He claimed that the play expressed "more belief in the truth of people having tender need of each other, transcending their personal vanities and hurt feelings, than any of my other plays, with the possible exception of The Rose Tattoo." "The Rose Tattoo" is an earlier Williams romance which shares some themes with "Period of Adjustment". It is a beautiful work, one of Williams' best.
In his biography, "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014), John Lahr describes "Period of Adjustment" as a meditation "on changes of heart and the possibility of reconciliation." Lahr discusses the importance of the play to Williams' subsequent career as it marked his break with the director, Elia Kazan. Kazan has directed many of Williams' plays and had agreed to direct "Period of Adjustment." He backed out of directing the play because he had committed to direct a film of a play by William Inge. Kazan and Williams could not agree on a new schedule and the two never worked together again. George Roy Hill directed the Broadway production. In the subsequent 1962 film of "Period of Adjustment", a young Jane Fonda played the virginal new wife, Isabel.
Readers interested in exploring the scope of Tennessee Williams' work will want to get to know "Period of Adjustment". The work is included in the second of the two Library of America volumes devoted to Williams' plays.
Robin Friedman
Sandwiched between "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "The Night of the Iguana", Tennessee Williams' 1960 play, "Period of Adjustment" is a deliberate attempt to write in a lighter vein. Williams had been criticized for writing dark tragic dramas full of tormented individuals and lurid sex and violence. When a critic accused Williams of "plunging into the sewers", he tried to shift away in "Period of Adjustment" and express himself differently. Williams' subtitled the work "High Point Over a Cavern" because the action of the play takes place in a house over a slowly-shifting geological fault, and "A Serious Comedy". The play lacks the force and passion of Williams' darker works, but it does not deserve dismissal. It describes the rekindling of efforts of love and of two couples getting along in situations that had seemed hopeless.
The three-act play is set on a Christmas Eve in the late 1950s in a Memphis home gradually shifting into a fault. Ralph and Dorothy Bates own the home. They have been married for five years with a small son. Dorothy has just walked out of the house when she learns that Ralph has quit his job working as a clerk for her wealthy father. The other couple, George and Isabel Haverstick, have been married for one day. Ralph and George are old army buddies from the Korean War. The newlyweds pay Ralph and Dorothy a visit. They are getting along poorly, after their day of married life, and have not consummated their relationship.
Ralph and George catch up with each other. Ralph claims to feel no passion for his wife. She is physically unattractive and Ralph confesses to marrying her largely because of her family money and the possibility of a job. George has been in and out of hospitals following the Korean War. He suffers from a case of nervous shaking which the doctors are unable to diagnose or cure. Isabel worked as a nurse and cared for George during his most recent hospitalization, and the two apparently got married on an impulse. With Isabel leaving her job, neither of them have work or money. They drive to see Ralph and Dorothy in a cheap battered old Cadillac that had seen long service as a funeral hearse. Unlike the two men, Dorothy and Isabel had no prior acquaintance with each other.
Williams' describes the conflicts between the two couples and the relationships that develop among the four people. Each person shows substantial insight into the problems of the other couple with far less insight into his or her own problems. Each shows signs of insecurity, loneliness, cynicism, impotence, frigidity, or nervous disorders -- conditions that make their appearance in many Williams' plays. In this play, the issues are not deeply explored. Both couples' resolve their difficulties, at least temporarily. Ralph and Dorothy reconcile and perhaps appreciate each other more than they did before Dorothy walked out. George and Isabel consummate their marriage and appear willing to make an effort with one another.
The play is enjoyable if on the whole it does not sharply probe its characters or situations. It is much easier to read than several of Williams' other, more complex dramas. Williams said that "Period of Adjustment" "isn't my best by a long shot, but is nevertheless as honest a play as I've written." He claimed that the play expressed "more belief in the truth of people having tender need of each other, transcending their personal vanities and hurt feelings, than any of my other plays, with the possible exception of The Rose Tattoo." "The Rose Tattoo" is an earlier Williams romance which shares some themes with "Period of Adjustment". It is a beautiful work, one of Williams' best.
In his biography, "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014), John Lahr describes "Period of Adjustment" as a meditation "on changes of heart and the possibility of reconciliation." Lahr discusses the importance of the play to Williams' subsequent career as it marked his break with the director, Elia Kazan. Kazan has directed many of Williams' plays and had agreed to direct "Period of Adjustment." He backed out of directing the play because he had committed to direct a film of a play by William Inge. Kazan and Williams could not agree on a new schedule and the two never worked together again. George Roy Hill directed the Broadway production. In the subsequent 1962 film of "Period of Adjustment", a young Jane Fonda played the virginal new wife, Isabel.
Readers interested in exploring the scope of Tennessee Williams' work will want to get to know "Period of Adjustment". The work is included in the second of the two Library of America volumes devoted to Williams' plays.
Robin Friedman
November 4, 2017
ملعون هذا الموقع الذي يجعلك تكتب صفحتين ثم تختفيان فجأة .....
على كل حال. ....
كنت تقول ان هذا العمل بالكاد يسمى مسرحا....لأنه مشهد واحد حواري طويل وممل...يفتقر إلى التشويق والاحداث والحبكة.....لا شيء سوى الملل ثم الملل ثم الملل....
حظي وافر هذه الايام مع الكتب المملة....
على كل حال. ....
كنت تقول ان هذا العمل بالكاد يسمى مسرحا....لأنه مشهد واحد حواري طويل وممل...يفتقر إلى التشويق والاحداث والحبكة.....لا شيء سوى الملل ثم الملل ثم الملل....
حظي وافر هذه الايام مع الكتب المملة....
December 8, 2019
Not Tennessee Williams' best work, let's just say that.
October 22, 2011
فترة التوافق .. كعادة المسرح الامريكي هي رحلة في الواقع و لعلك واحد من شخصيات المسرحية او جزء من شخصية منها .. فترة التوافق هي رحلة نفسية يقودنا فيها تينسي وليامز من خلال العلاقة بين الزوجين
ملخص فلسفة هذة المسرحية باختصار شديد اقتبسة من المسرحية نفسها من خلال الاسطر التالية
مسرحية جيدة تستحق القراءة
ملخص فلسفة هذة المسرحية باختصار شديد اقتبسة من المسرحية نفسها من خلال الاسطر التالية
ان ممارسة الحب عمل صعب .. عليك ان تعمل فية يا رجل .. انه ليس شيئا يستطيع كل من هب و دب ان يتفهمه جيدا .. اتعرف ما اعني .. ليس كل من هب و دب يعرف كيف يستخدمة انه ليس سلاحا هجوميا . ولا يجب ان يستخدمونة كسلاح هجومي يجب ان يقهروا النساء به .. و هو كذلك , ان هذا لابد ان يستثير المقاومة للمراة كرامتها .. حتي المراة لها كرامتها و ترفض ان تغتصب . و معظم الوان ممارسة الحب هي اغتصاب لدي هؤلاء الخبراء الذين يعتزون بأنفسهم .. كهذا الذي يهبط السلم و هو يصيح " اه يارجل .. اه يا أخي" و قد وضع يده في حزامة كمن اتم عملا مجيدا
مسرحية جيدة تستحق القراءة
May 24, 2017
Who's Afraid of Tennessee Williams?
July 10, 2019
After a number of plays featuring violence and cruelty, Period of Adjustment might be seen as Tennessee Williams coming up for air. Cruel words are said, but overall the tone of this ‘serious comedy’ is one of kindness.
I commented in my review of Suddenly Last Summer that it was ‘therapised’, a play in which talking helps a character to overcome an emotional trauma. Williams had received support himself, and was deeply appreciative of the good that it did him.
In the case of Period of Adjustment, the play might be seen as an exercise in couples therapy. There are two married couples in the play, one just married and one in a steady marriage, but both of those marriages are in trouble. The two couples have a chance to compare and contrast their own problems with that of the other couple, and to provide counsel and support to help one another to reach a new level of understanding.
Even the term ‘Period of adjustment’ suggests something therapeutic, and the term is used by multiple characters on many occasions to refer to the other marriage. Both couples imagine that their marriage is failing, but really they need only to work out what has gone wrong, and then they may perhaps reach a better level of understanding.
The newly-weds are George and Isabel Haverstick. From the way that they argue at the beginning of the play, it seems as if their problems are insurmountable, even though they have barely got married. Isabel was George’s nurse, but proved unsuitable for her work because she could not stand the sight of blood.
The intimate contact that she had with her patient (giving him back rubs) seems to have been the erotic source of their first attraction, which is strange because sex is their problem. Isabel is a little prudish, but the real problem is George, a former pilot who has the shakes, and who is obviously nervous about sex.
We learn that he often boasted about the prostitutes that he had been with while abroad fighting, but in reality he did not touch them. He only taught them English. His attempt to rough-handle Isabel only frightens the virgin, who does not realise that his brash manner is intended to conceal his vulnerability and fear of sexual inadequacy.
This couple comes crashing into the life of George’s wartime friend, Ralph Bates. It is Christmas, and yet Ralph is alone. Ralph has been married for a number of years, and even has a son. Ralph is resentful of the way that his wife Dorothea has made his son into a sissy by letting him play with girls’ toys. Ralph wants his son to be more macho and play with male-oriented toys.
Such an attitude seems a little dated today, and it is surprising to see it here for a couple of reasons. Firstly Ralph seems quite feminine himself, ready to listen to the problems between his friend and Isabel, and to adjudicate without judging either.
Secondly, Tennessee Williams might be seen as rather ‘sissified’ himself, and not just because he was a homosexual. He wrote plays in poetic and lyrical language that showed delicacy and sensitivity. The typical theme of a Tennessee Williams work is that of fragile and gentle people being destroyed by violence and brutality. Nonetheless Williams puts this hostility to ‘sissyfication’ in the mouth of the most likeable character here.
While Ralph has been married for some time, his problems prove to be surprisingly similar. As with George, a crisis has been precipitated by him quitting his job. In Ralph’s case, the job was with his wife’s father. Ralph resents the constant interference of his in-laws, and despises his comfortable life with Dorothea
Ralph claims to have married Dorothea for her father’s wealth, and says that he finds her plain and unattractive. He talks about fantasising about other women while with her. In fact Dorothea has improved her physical features somewhat, and we eventually see that Ralph is in love with her.
Nonetheless their marriage, like their life, is sinking under a deep cavern similar to the one that is afflicting their house. Unless Dorothea can be separated from the influence of her parents and Ralph can find a better way of life, their marriage is in trouble.
Dreams lie in the outside world seen through the television. We get occasional blasts of the TV, and Ralph and George fantasise about setting up a ranch to raise quality horses that can be used on westerns, a popular genre of the time. I rather hope they did not pursue this career, as the western would begin to decline as a genre after a decade.
Period of Adjustment may have a deceptively light tone, but there is something heartfelt and moving about the two couples as they move from conflict to resolution with the help of one another. For once it seems that complicated relationship problems can be resolved, and couples can find happiness if they try hard enough.
The play was not a great success when it first came out. A film version made a profit, but unfairly sank from public recognition, and is now barely-watched. This is a shame as the film and the play are both highly enjoyable, funny in places and sad in others, but ultimately made in a spirit of hope and reconciliation.
I commented in my review of Suddenly Last Summer that it was ‘therapised’, a play in which talking helps a character to overcome an emotional trauma. Williams had received support himself, and was deeply appreciative of the good that it did him.
In the case of Period of Adjustment, the play might be seen as an exercise in couples therapy. There are two married couples in the play, one just married and one in a steady marriage, but both of those marriages are in trouble. The two couples have a chance to compare and contrast their own problems with that of the other couple, and to provide counsel and support to help one another to reach a new level of understanding.
Even the term ‘Period of adjustment’ suggests something therapeutic, and the term is used by multiple characters on many occasions to refer to the other marriage. Both couples imagine that their marriage is failing, but really they need only to work out what has gone wrong, and then they may perhaps reach a better level of understanding.
The newly-weds are George and Isabel Haverstick. From the way that they argue at the beginning of the play, it seems as if their problems are insurmountable, even though they have barely got married. Isabel was George’s nurse, but proved unsuitable for her work because she could not stand the sight of blood.
The intimate contact that she had with her patient (giving him back rubs) seems to have been the erotic source of their first attraction, which is strange because sex is their problem. Isabel is a little prudish, but the real problem is George, a former pilot who has the shakes, and who is obviously nervous about sex.
We learn that he often boasted about the prostitutes that he had been with while abroad fighting, but in reality he did not touch them. He only taught them English. His attempt to rough-handle Isabel only frightens the virgin, who does not realise that his brash manner is intended to conceal his vulnerability and fear of sexual inadequacy.
This couple comes crashing into the life of George’s wartime friend, Ralph Bates. It is Christmas, and yet Ralph is alone. Ralph has been married for a number of years, and even has a son. Ralph is resentful of the way that his wife Dorothea has made his son into a sissy by letting him play with girls’ toys. Ralph wants his son to be more macho and play with male-oriented toys.
Such an attitude seems a little dated today, and it is surprising to see it here for a couple of reasons. Firstly Ralph seems quite feminine himself, ready to listen to the problems between his friend and Isabel, and to adjudicate without judging either.
Secondly, Tennessee Williams might be seen as rather ‘sissified’ himself, and not just because he was a homosexual. He wrote plays in poetic and lyrical language that showed delicacy and sensitivity. The typical theme of a Tennessee Williams work is that of fragile and gentle people being destroyed by violence and brutality. Nonetheless Williams puts this hostility to ‘sissyfication’ in the mouth of the most likeable character here.
While Ralph has been married for some time, his problems prove to be surprisingly similar. As with George, a crisis has been precipitated by him quitting his job. In Ralph’s case, the job was with his wife’s father. Ralph resents the constant interference of his in-laws, and despises his comfortable life with Dorothea
Ralph claims to have married Dorothea for her father’s wealth, and says that he finds her plain and unattractive. He talks about fantasising about other women while with her. In fact Dorothea has improved her physical features somewhat, and we eventually see that Ralph is in love with her.
Nonetheless their marriage, like their life, is sinking under a deep cavern similar to the one that is afflicting their house. Unless Dorothea can be separated from the influence of her parents and Ralph can find a better way of life, their marriage is in trouble.
Dreams lie in the outside world seen through the television. We get occasional blasts of the TV, and Ralph and George fantasise about setting up a ranch to raise quality horses that can be used on westerns, a popular genre of the time. I rather hope they did not pursue this career, as the western would begin to decline as a genre after a decade.
Period of Adjustment may have a deceptively light tone, but there is something heartfelt and moving about the two couples as they move from conflict to resolution with the help of one another. For once it seems that complicated relationship problems can be resolved, and couples can find happiness if they try hard enough.
The play was not a great success when it first came out. A film version made a profit, but unfairly sank from public recognition, and is now barely-watched. This is a shame as the film and the play are both highly enjoyable, funny in places and sad in others, but ultimately made in a spirit of hope and reconciliation.
November 18, 2022
هي صراحة أقل مسرحيات تنيسي وليامز التي قرأتها له، مع حرارة حواراته فيها وانسيابها، كعادته، ولكنها كانت لا تستحق عناء الإجادة فيها مع موضوع المسرحية المحدود نفسه، وقد أحببت مسرح تنيسي فيما سبق ولكن هنا كانت قراءة هذه الصفحات عملية بالغة الملل وحتى مع تسريع الصفحات فلم يحدث شيء يغيّر من رتابة المسرحية وحدثها الواحد ومنظرها الذي لم يتغيّر.
ثم أبى كاتب المقدمة، دريني خشبة، إلا أن يزيد من حسرة سوء اختياري لهذا الكتاب، فقد كتب مقدمة طويلة حرق فيها أحداث هذه المسرحية تفصيليًا، كعادته هو أيضًا، وإن أكن قد جاوزتها إلى أن أنهيت المسرحية لأعود إليها وأجد أنها بأكملها، وبشكل غريب قطّبت أمامه، ذمًّا وقدحًا في تنيسي وليامز، ذمًّا يتعدّى نطاق الموضوعية ويتهمه بتهم كثيرة لا حصر لها، من التأثّر الذي يصل لحدّ السرقة ومن تخلخل البناء الدرامي لأعماله ووهن العقدة وجرأة الآراء الجنسية وعدم المضيّ إلى هدف، وكل هذا جاء به في مقدمته بثوب مستعار من الأكاديمية والمهنية، فرغم أن الكلام كان يبدو مهذبًا وعلميًا إلا أنه كان في صميمه يطعن المؤلف بطعنات غريبة وكأنه يفرغ غيظه به، واستغربت حقًا من إلحاق هذه المقدمة بالكتاب، فقد يكون هذا رأي المقدّم الشخصي وهو من رجال المسرح المعروفين، فليكن، ولكن أن يضعه الناشر كمقدمة طويلة للعمل ثم تكون المقدمة كلها في ذمّ هذا العمل والأعمال الأخرى جملة للمؤلف والتعريض بتأثره المكشوف من أساتذته، فهذا نوع من سوء الأدب في التعامل مع الأسماء الكبيرة.
May 31, 2025
Summary: George and his newlywed bride Isabel show up at the doorstep of his old war buddy, Ralph. Ralph has just quit his job which led to his wife leaving him (along with his son). George and Isabel may be just married but they're already struggling. It seems George is a bit aggressive in the bedroom and Isabel is shy. Ralph and George talk of buying land in Texas to raise cattle. Later on, Ralph's in-laws show up and want to take all of their daughter's things with him as they were tipped off that Ralph was planning on selling it all. But then his wife shows up and decides to stay. The play ends with both couples seeming to make it work.
Review: So yeah I thought this was alright. amusing enough and all but nothing special. Fairly average play.
Grade: C+
Review: So yeah I thought this was alright. amusing enough and all but nothing special. Fairly average play.
Grade: C+
July 5, 2025
Funny and sweet and thoughtful on marriage and relationships I think. The ending was a bit lacklustre but I just love how Williams writes and how he captures human psychology. Act 3 is a bit naff, Act 2 probably the highlight.
At times I find his female characters to be written a bit weakly - I feel like it gets worse in some of his later plays? - but he clearly cared a lot about women and overall he’s great and I’m a fan.
At times I find his female characters to be written a bit weakly - I feel like it gets worse in some of his later plays? - but he clearly cared a lot about women and overall he’s great and I’m a fan.
August 2, 2018
I want rate this higher but there were some sexist remarks that I just can’t look past. I still really like Tennessee Williams, this one is not one of his best. Br if you’ve read a lot of his work I’d recommend it. Be sure to read it in the winter too.
June 21, 2023
Two couples adjust. Rather boring really. It's supposedly 'A Serious Comedy' but I didn't much laugh. TW sets the stage/house over a cavern that might be falling in, but the author does nothing with that element. It's not bad really, just flat.
July 19, 2019
Based on reviews I had read, I did not expect to like this play as much as I did. I ended up really loving williams’ wit and style in this comedy infused play.
July 17, 2021
Certainly one of Williams’ happier plays, even if a little too twee.
May 16, 2023
this is like if dostoevsky decided to write a comedy
May 1, 2024
Horrible and ridiculous dialogue. Who speaks like this? And if they do they deserve asylum
October 4, 2024
Nope. New favourite.
December 2, 2024
so MESSY, Tennessee
Read
June 2, 2025oh brother these guys STINK
December 1, 2025
Depressing play unredeemed by ending.
March 27, 2018
Proves that Tenn was only truly in his element when he wrote tragedies. This play, notable for being one of the few Williams plays to feature a happy ending, was one of the most forgettable pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. Not bad, per se. Just forgettable. I read this a little over a week ago, and the only character I can remember is Isabel. Not because she’s a particularly interesting character or anything, but only because she talked for the entire damn first act. (And, I admit, because she was played by Jane Fonda in that travesty of a movie. I’m a simple queer: I see a queen, I bow.) But Maggie the Cat she is not.
Two stars.
Two stars.
August 5, 2012
I was reading this play and thought, "When did Edward Albee write this one?" If you've read or seen Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? then this play's dialogue would seem familiar. The characters are also somewhat of a departure for Williams - there is no Southern crazy woman or any of the typical male characters (aesthetic depressed guy, Southern bigot bully). Instead we have two "married" couples - one who has just split up and one has just been married the day and day before Christmas Eve.
There is an element of farcical comedy but like Albee, there is some pretty rough word slinging between the couples. All of them are damaged goods but have a lot of pride in spite of that fact and you can see a lot of defensive anger and projection in their attitudes towards each other. As always Williams is psychologically astute. Notably this has a rare "happy" ending.
There is an element of farcical comedy but like Albee, there is some pretty rough word slinging between the couples. All of them are damaged goods but have a lot of pride in spite of that fact and you can see a lot of defensive anger and projection in their attitudes towards each other. As always Williams is psychologically astute. Notably this has a rare "happy" ending.
July 26, 2016
#10 Definitely not the voice of Blanche, Amanda or Maggie, but the ghosts of sister Rose are there in another form. Trying to be more palatable, more liked by America at large, POA has a writing style which feels a bit too conventional or an environment not "poetic enough" for Tennessee; however, the deeper we travel with these characters, the masks begin to crack--the delicate nature of all these characters, our male "heroes" included are very vulnerable. And ringing out in the world in this play on marital frailty is Isabel's cry "What an awful frightening thing it is!...Two people living together, two, two--different worlds!--attempting--existence--together!"
October 20, 2014
An even lighter affair than The Rose Tattoo, but both are a bit similar. Two unhappy husbands meet up on Christmas Eve to discuss their failed marriages, one of the marriages being as fresh as a day old. There's a lot of good stuff here, but like I said, it's pretty light, and the theme of "sexual healing" has already been explored in a better fashion in The Rose Tattoo. However, after a series of plays with downer endings (death by blowtorch, possible beating to death, etc.), it's nice to see a play of his end on the happy note of two couples banging in separate rooms.
June 8, 2013
This is probably the least-Williamsesque play of his that I have read--almost as if Horton Foote had written it and signed Williams's name. Regardless, this is actually a bit of a delightful piece. While its sexual politics is dated, the play does manage to capture the complicated dance that is marriage and the fact that even those closest to you can still be strangers.
April 3, 2017
I LOVE the first two acts. The third act draws on forever and is almost unbearable to read. Sadly, I feel the 1960-something movie version wrote a better alternative, which is bearable.
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