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Γλυκό πουλί της νιότης
Γραμμένο το 1956, το "Γλυκό πουλί της νιότης" είναι ένα από τα πιο γνωστά του Τεννεσσή Ουίλλιαμς.
Ο Τσανς Γουέην, ένας αδίστακτος όσο και φιλόδοξος νέος, που προσφέρει τις υπηρεσίες του στην ώριμη διάσημη ηθοποιό Αλεξάνδρα ντελ Λάγκο, έρχεται μαζί της σε μια πόλη της Φλόριντα και γενέτειρά του και ξαναβρίσκεται στη συντηρητική επαρχία του αμερικανικού Νότου, όπου κυριαρχούν ο κοινωνικός ρατσισμός, η βία και το δίκαιο του ισχυρότερου.
Ψυχολογικά ναυάγια και οι δύο, καθένας για τους δικούς του λόγους, η Αλεξάνδρα και ο συνοδός της καταφεύγουν στον τεχνητό παράδεισο των ναρκωτικών, μήπως τους βοηθήσει να αναπλάσουν την απατηλή ζωή που ευελπιστούσαν ότι θα έχουν. Στο τέλος του έργου η ηθοποιός γυρίζει στα φώτα και στη δόξα, ενώ ο τυχάρπαστος επιβήτοράς της τσακίζεται από το ίδιο κοινωνικό σύστημα που τον είχε συντηρήσει για χρόνια.
Ο Τσανς Γουέην, ένας αδίστακτος όσο και φιλόδοξος νέος, που προσφέρει τις υπηρεσίες του στην ώριμη διάσημη ηθοποιό Αλεξάνδρα ντελ Λάγκο, έρχεται μαζί της σε μια πόλη της Φλόριντα και γενέτειρά του και ξαναβρίσκεται στη συντηρητική επαρχία του αμερικανικού Νότου, όπου κυριαρχούν ο κοινωνικός ρατσισμός, η βία και το δίκαιο του ισχυρότερου.
Ψυχολογικά ναυάγια και οι δύο, καθένας για τους δικούς του λόγους, η Αλεξάνδρα και ο συνοδός της καταφεύγουν στον τεχνητό παράδεισο των ναρκωτικών, μήπως τους βοηθήσει να αναπλάσουν την απατηλή ζωή που ευελπιστούσαν ότι θα έχουν. Στο τέλος του έργου η ηθοποιός γυρίζει στα φώτα και στη δόξα, ενώ ο τυχάρπαστος επιβήτοράς της τσακίζεται από το ίδιο κοινωνικό σύστημα που τον είχε συντηρήσει για χρόνια.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
65 people are currently reading
2199 people want to read
About the author
Tennessee Williams
754 books3,691 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 143 reviews
May 31, 2016
Tennesse Williams has such a poignant way of writing about lost dreams and lost youth. This sounds similar to his characterisation of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, but in Sweet Bird of Youth almost every character is suffering from the loss of youth, and from chasing unrealistic and unattainable dreams. As the title would suggest, this play is about the theme of youth much more than Streetcar is, and the ending where Chance and Princess are discussing the nature of time passing is just so beautifully heartbreaking because it is only at the end of the play that they realise that their dreams cannot be realised. Chance is both an overly brash, slightly annoying character, but also an incredibly tragic character, as he has been forced by circumstances to change from a young, sweet, innocent boy into a broken man with a drug and drink problem, fixated on regaining his childhood sweetheart and becoming a famous actor. By the end of the play, he has neither of these things. He simply cannot regain who he was when he was younger, like many of the other characters, as the "sweet bird of youth" has grown up and has flown away, never to be found again.
May 9, 2012
It's been a while since I've read any of Tennessee Williams's plays. As I finished the last act, I realized that his was not a gossamer reputation: There is something real about that sad, strange outsider who recognizes the same qualities in his readers. It has been quoted many times before, but Chance Wayne's closing lines as he faces the punishment for his many offenses encapsulates perfectly what Williams is all about:
Williams is a treasure.
I don't ask for your pity, but just for your understanding—not even that—no. Just for your recognition of me in you, and the enemy, time, in us all.It was a brilliant touch to have the transgressive young stud Chance traveling with a washed up actress named Alexandra del Lago. In the play, both characters arrive at differently forking life paths, one positive, the other not.
Williams is a treasure.
October 29, 2024
Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird Of Youth
Tennessee Williams' play "Sweet Bird of Youth" shows deeply flawed individuals self-destructing as they try to recover their innocence and youth. As are the characters, the play is beautiful, if flawed. The same might be said of the playwright. The play was a success when it opened on Broadway in 1959. Elia Kazan directed, Paul Newman played the leading male character, Chance Wayne, while Geraldine Page won recognition and a Tony Award for her portrayal of the leading woman, The Princess Kosmonopolis, aka Alexandria Del Lago.
This three-act play is set in a town called St. Cloud on the Florida Gulf on an Easter Sunday in the late 1950's. It centers on the parasitic, yet partly affectionate relationship between Chance Wayne, 29, and the aging Princess. Violence, particularly in the form of castration, looms heavily over the play. Chance grew up in St. Cloud, aspired to an acting career, and loved a young girl, Heavenly, the daughter of the town political strongman, Boss Finley. Chance's life degenerated rapidly to wandering, substance abuse, and serving as a gigolo to middle aged or elderly wealthy women. Chance has been run out of town by Boss Finley because of his relationship with Heavenly. On his last visit to town, Heavenly had contracted a venereal disease requiring an operation making it impossible for her to bear children. Chance meets a wealthy, ill, aging actress, The Princess, who had been successful in her youth but had faded from public notice 15 years earlier. She has made a new movie to try to revitalize her career but she thinks it has been hooted and rejected. The Princess and Chance get together and with Chance trying to blackmail the Princess and the Princess trying to compel Chance to satisfy her sexually. As part of his efforts to use The Princess, Chance brings her to St. Cloud in an attempt to retrieve Heavenly and her love. Chance's old enemies, headed by the Boss, learn of Chance's presence and pressure him to leave under threat of castration or death.
As with so much of Williams, the play manages to be beautiful and deeply moving as well as violent and tawdry. The two lost characters, both caught in their past, in self-pity, and in substance abuse, develop feelings even while they use and exploit one another. They, as well as several of the secondary characters of the play, show a fixity in their responses and an inability to respond to change that lead to self-destruction. The characters try to recapture their innocence or their successes and doom each other and themselves.
The first and third acts of the play are well-paced and convincing. They set out the relationship between Chance and The Princess and its violent denouement. The lengthy second act which introduces Boss Finley and several other characters and sub-plots resulted in a great deal of trouble and rewriting for Williams. In reading this play, it slows down and confuses the action.
In a Foreword he wrote to the play, Williams explored the themes of violence in his work. He discussed the goal of his plays in helping himself and his audience recognize and rise above their guilt. Williams wrote:
"Guilt is universal. I mean a strong sense of guilt. If there exists any area in which a man can rise above his moral condition, imposed upon him at birth and long before birth, by the nature of his breed, then I think it is only a willingness to know it, to face its existence in him, and I think that at least below the conscious level, we all face it. Hence guilty feelings, and hence defiant aggressions, and hence the deep dark of despair that haunts our dreams, our creative work, and makes us distrust each other."
John Lahr's new biography, "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014) considers "Sweet Bird of Youth" at length. Lahr discusses the themes of the play, the difficulties in its writing and production, Williams' relationship to Elia Kazan and to Geraldine Page, and the ways in which the play reflects Williams' own life. Kazan called "Sweet Bird of Youth", "the most truly autobiographical play Williams ever wrote" with the playwright dealing "with his own corruption and his wish to return to the purity he once had." The play moves uneasily between its highly personal, romantic character and the feeling of universality in its tragedy.
Lahr's book and analysis encouraged me to read "Sweet Bird of Youth" as well as other works of Tennessee Williams. It remains a troublingly difficult yet moving work by this great American writer.
Robin Friedman
Tennessee Williams' play "Sweet Bird of Youth" shows deeply flawed individuals self-destructing as they try to recover their innocence and youth. As are the characters, the play is beautiful, if flawed. The same might be said of the playwright. The play was a success when it opened on Broadway in 1959. Elia Kazan directed, Paul Newman played the leading male character, Chance Wayne, while Geraldine Page won recognition and a Tony Award for her portrayal of the leading woman, The Princess Kosmonopolis, aka Alexandria Del Lago.
This three-act play is set in a town called St. Cloud on the Florida Gulf on an Easter Sunday in the late 1950's. It centers on the parasitic, yet partly affectionate relationship between Chance Wayne, 29, and the aging Princess. Violence, particularly in the form of castration, looms heavily over the play. Chance grew up in St. Cloud, aspired to an acting career, and loved a young girl, Heavenly, the daughter of the town political strongman, Boss Finley. Chance's life degenerated rapidly to wandering, substance abuse, and serving as a gigolo to middle aged or elderly wealthy women. Chance has been run out of town by Boss Finley because of his relationship with Heavenly. On his last visit to town, Heavenly had contracted a venereal disease requiring an operation making it impossible for her to bear children. Chance meets a wealthy, ill, aging actress, The Princess, who had been successful in her youth but had faded from public notice 15 years earlier. She has made a new movie to try to revitalize her career but she thinks it has been hooted and rejected. The Princess and Chance get together and with Chance trying to blackmail the Princess and the Princess trying to compel Chance to satisfy her sexually. As part of his efforts to use The Princess, Chance brings her to St. Cloud in an attempt to retrieve Heavenly and her love. Chance's old enemies, headed by the Boss, learn of Chance's presence and pressure him to leave under threat of castration or death.
As with so much of Williams, the play manages to be beautiful and deeply moving as well as violent and tawdry. The two lost characters, both caught in their past, in self-pity, and in substance abuse, develop feelings even while they use and exploit one another. They, as well as several of the secondary characters of the play, show a fixity in their responses and an inability to respond to change that lead to self-destruction. The characters try to recapture their innocence or their successes and doom each other and themselves.
The first and third acts of the play are well-paced and convincing. They set out the relationship between Chance and The Princess and its violent denouement. The lengthy second act which introduces Boss Finley and several other characters and sub-plots resulted in a great deal of trouble and rewriting for Williams. In reading this play, it slows down and confuses the action.
In a Foreword he wrote to the play, Williams explored the themes of violence in his work. He discussed the goal of his plays in helping himself and his audience recognize and rise above their guilt. Williams wrote:
"Guilt is universal. I mean a strong sense of guilt. If there exists any area in which a man can rise above his moral condition, imposed upon him at birth and long before birth, by the nature of his breed, then I think it is only a willingness to know it, to face its existence in him, and I think that at least below the conscious level, we all face it. Hence guilty feelings, and hence defiant aggressions, and hence the deep dark of despair that haunts our dreams, our creative work, and makes us distrust each other."
John Lahr's new biography, "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014) considers "Sweet Bird of Youth" at length. Lahr discusses the themes of the play, the difficulties in its writing and production, Williams' relationship to Elia Kazan and to Geraldine Page, and the ways in which the play reflects Williams' own life. Kazan called "Sweet Bird of Youth", "the most truly autobiographical play Williams ever wrote" with the playwright dealing "with his own corruption and his wish to return to the purity he once had." The play moves uneasily between its highly personal, romantic character and the feeling of universality in its tragedy.
Lahr's book and analysis encouraged me to read "Sweet Bird of Youth" as well as other works of Tennessee Williams. It remains a troublingly difficult yet moving work by this great American writer.
Robin Friedman
July 27, 2017
Čitajući predgovor pomislila sam da nema šanse da mi se i ova drama dopadne koliko i prethodne Tenesijeve koje sam pročitala. Naravno, pogrešila sam. Ništa manje fascinantna nije od "Mačke.." ili "Tramvaja..", prodire u srž, postavlja nas na obalu ljudskih težnji da sačekamo buru emocija koja će neminovno doći kada se likovi suoče sa onim što je najteže, istinom o sebi. Jug koji Vilijams slika je poput stene koju zapljuskuju pomenuti talasi težeći da nakon katarze koju likovi dožive tlo dobije svežinu, ali ipak nakon bure sve što ostaje je muk. Tišina samospoznaje.
April 1, 2012
Is it because I'm not a man? Is it because I'm not living during the early 20th century? Is it because I'm only in my early 20s? Is it because I'm dumb?
Some of the previous statements must be true, because I couldn't relate to any character in this book.
Sure, I can understand most of them, Williams has done a great job. Their motives and emotions are crystal clear to the viewer...but I couldn't care less.
The washed out, formerly stunningly handsome man tries to make it big, but is bitch-slapped by life and realizes he has not only lost the ones he loves, but his youth as well.
We've seen this scenario many times, mostly in films, and maybe this is one of the reasons that I couldn't engage emotionally enough in this story. It's mostly a character development drama, with a plot I've seen before, and don't care about, and characters that I have nothing in common with.
It's beautifully written and it's apparent that Williams is very talented and did the best possible job in writing this.
Still, for me, it was something that I'll probably have forgotten in a year or two.
Some of the previous statements must be true, because I couldn't relate to any character in this book.
Sure, I can understand most of them, Williams has done a great job. Their motives and emotions are crystal clear to the viewer...but I couldn't care less.
The washed out, formerly stunningly handsome man tries to make it big, but is bitch-slapped by life and realizes he has not only lost the ones he loves, but his youth as well.
We've seen this scenario many times, mostly in films, and maybe this is one of the reasons that I couldn't engage emotionally enough in this story. It's mostly a character development drama, with a plot I've seen before, and don't care about, and characters that I have nothing in common with.
It's beautifully written and it's apparent that Williams is very talented and did the best possible job in writing this.
Still, for me, it was something that I'll probably have forgotten in a year or two.
April 29, 2019
Claptrap-trashy mellerdramer from hysterical Ten Williams...that involves venereal disease and finally castration. Back in the 1950s, this was all taken seriously ! Today it reads like a parody of a tv soap. If you read it as a comedy, you won't stop laughing. Actually, it's pretty funny too as a meller.
Faded Hollyla star, "The Princess," with her current trick, goes south where he once infected the daughter of a political boss and her Daddy is pissed off. Ten Williams is deep in someone's cups. Twaddle in a demi-tasse.
Faded Hollyla star, "The Princess," with her current trick, goes south where he once infected the daughter of a political boss and her Daddy is pissed off. Ten Williams is deep in someone's cups. Twaddle in a demi-tasse.
March 18, 2020
Αγάπησα τον Τσανς Γουαίην.Εχθροί του η τυχη-διόλου τυχαίο το όνομα του-ο ανηλεής χρόνος,ή αναλγησία ανθρώπων και η απώλεια της δυνατότητας για ό,τι μπορούσε να τον οδηγήσει στον ουρανό,τη Χεβενλυ-διόλου τυχαίο το όνομα του έρωτα του.
January 17, 2024
شاید بعدا دربارهش نوشتم ولی الان حس عجیبی بهش دارم.
August 11, 2018
داشتم از ویلیامز ناامید میشدم اما ... پرنده ی شیرین جوانی به گونه ای بازگشتی قوی به نمایش اول و محبوب ویلیامز باغ وحش شیشه ای است با فاصله ای ۱۵ ساله . بین این دو نمایش هر چه از او خواندم مانند تابستان و دود ، شب ایگوانا و اتوبوسی به نام هوس راضی ام نمیکرد و به گونه ای کم کم مرا دچار دلسردی نسبت به ویلیامز میکرد اما پرنده شیرین جوانی یک بازگشت قوی به حساب میامد . قصه ای در مورد عشق پسری نابغه ولی فقیر همراه با تکنیک های در هم ریزی مکان و زمان . قصه جنگ استعداد با قدرت و جوانی با مفهوم زمان است . قصه ای خشن ، خوش تراش دارد و با ترجمه ی خوبی نیز روبرو هستیم .
November 19, 2025
Наверное, часы есть в каждой комнате, где живут люди...
Давно смотрела спектакль по пьесе в "Современнике" с Мариной Неёловой и Юрием Колокольниковым в постановке Кирилла Серебренникова (sic!), воспоминания остались приятные. А сама пьеса – просто великолепная! Пожалуй, пока что моя любимая у Теннесси.
September 30, 2011
Chance Wayne Dwelling in the Past
Chance Wayne in Tennessee Williams’ play Sweet Bird of Youth is clearly no longer the praised figure that he once was in the town of Saint Cloud. Citizens of Saint Cloud used to adore and respect Chance, but now they repute him because of his past life decisions and his past sexual relations with Heavenly. Now, this former “Oklahoma” star desperately longs for his prestige back, but most of all he wants to rekindle his loving relationship with Heavenly and escape Saint Cloud with her. Chance discovers that he cannot return to his past, and the major conflict of the play, content with the present versus the passage of time, develops.
Even though both Chance Wayne and Alexandra Del Lago originally journey to awaken past joys, they do both realize that these joys have passed them (3.122). The Princess will no longer have the same popularity she once had as an actress; Chance will not be able to escape with Heavenly because Boss Finley and his power restrict him from doing so. Chance Wayne and Alexandra Del Lago live in their past, and they wish to live in their past lives instead of living new ones.
Close to the end of the play Chance exasperates on his present state, “It goes tick-tick, it’s quieter than your heart-beat, but it’s slow dynamite, a gradual explosion, blasting the world we lived in to burnt-out pieces . . . Time – who could beat it, who could defeat it ever?” (3.123). He cannot find pleasure in the present, so Chance dwells in the past. His joyful memories build up inside him, and he must accept the fact that he no longer can be close to Heavenly because of her operation. By accepting this fact, he will no longer be depressed; his world will not be “burnt to pieces” with memories. He cannot let time pass him by. He must move ahead with the clock.
Works Cited
Williams, Tennessee. Sweet Bird of Youth. Tennessee Williams: Three by Tennessee.
New York: First Signet Classic Publishing, 1976.
Chance Wayne in Tennessee Williams’ play Sweet Bird of Youth is clearly no longer the praised figure that he once was in the town of Saint Cloud. Citizens of Saint Cloud used to adore and respect Chance, but now they repute him because of his past life decisions and his past sexual relations with Heavenly. Now, this former “Oklahoma” star desperately longs for his prestige back, but most of all he wants to rekindle his loving relationship with Heavenly and escape Saint Cloud with her. Chance discovers that he cannot return to his past, and the major conflict of the play, content with the present versus the passage of time, develops.
Even though both Chance Wayne and Alexandra Del Lago originally journey to awaken past joys, they do both realize that these joys have passed them (3.122). The Princess will no longer have the same popularity she once had as an actress; Chance will not be able to escape with Heavenly because Boss Finley and his power restrict him from doing so. Chance Wayne and Alexandra Del Lago live in their past, and they wish to live in their past lives instead of living new ones.
Close to the end of the play Chance exasperates on his present state, “It goes tick-tick, it’s quieter than your heart-beat, but it’s slow dynamite, a gradual explosion, blasting the world we lived in to burnt-out pieces . . . Time – who could beat it, who could defeat it ever?” (3.123). He cannot find pleasure in the present, so Chance dwells in the past. His joyful memories build up inside him, and he must accept the fact that he no longer can be close to Heavenly because of her operation. By accepting this fact, he will no longer be depressed; his world will not be “burnt to pieces” with memories. He cannot let time pass him by. He must move ahead with the clock.
Works Cited
Williams, Tennessee. Sweet Bird of Youth. Tennessee Williams: Three by Tennessee.
New York: First Signet Classic Publishing, 1976.
October 18, 2017
Ένα εύκολο ανάγνωσμα ίσως λόγω της μεταφράσεως του Μάριου Πλωρίτη. Παρόλα αυτά δεν θα έλεγα πως με άγγιξε κανένας από τους πρωταγωνιστές.
November 19, 2022
Williams often teeters on incredible melodrama. In this play, after a good Act 1, he dives headfirst into it.
June 22, 2016
I don't know what to write other than I really enjoyed this. I especially loved the stage directions (I'm not entirely sure why) & there were a lot of excellent quotes in the play about time and life.
The main reason why I haven't given this book 5 stars is because I have a fear of giving out too many five star reviews to books.
Maybe I'll write up a better review later, but I think that this basically sums up my thoughts.
The main reason why I haven't given this book 5 stars is because I have a fear of giving out too many five star reviews to books.
Maybe I'll write up a better review later, but I think that this basically sums up my thoughts.
March 22, 2018
I had a blast reading this play with my AP class that have never read any Williams before. "These characters don't seem very realistic to me," one 17 year old student, "Wait until you're in your 40"s," was my reply. The heavy drinking and pill popping Princess and Chance are perhaps my new favorite Williams characters- over the top at one moment, deeply tragic and sympathetic the next.
October 26, 2025
I want to read this again when I am past my youth.
May 7, 2018
و كعادة المسرحيات الأمريكية المعاصرة . 1960..
تتميز المسرحية بسرعة الأحداث و تنوعها و تنوع الشخصيات و تباينها ..
تتميز المسرحية بسرعة الأحداث و تنوعها و تنوع الشخصيات و تباينها ..
June 15, 2020
Love T.W ❤️ no writer lets himself be as vulnerable or as genuine in his work.
March 17, 2023
I think the movie directors made the venereal disease Chance gives Heavenly in the play into an unwanted pregnancy and a secret and illegal abortion to make the story more timely. Interesting!
February 22, 2025
Realistically, a 4.5/5, on the same level as Streetcar.
I think this might be my 10th Williams play, and what a play it is! One of his best.
I think this might be my 10th Williams play, and what a play it is! One of his best.
October 1, 2017
Best part: pictures of Paul Newman, obviously. Sharp themes. Second favorite part was someone else's annotations in this used novel. Kept referring to promiscuous men as pimps, which...nope.
August 31, 2014
This is William's meditation on aging, and its about as bleak and unrelenting as you could imagine. He offers a stark picture of what it's like to lose the illusions, the hope, and the romance of youth. And in its place? Perhaps, there is something in recognition and understanding, but its not much.
The characters, as always, seem like variations on other Williams staples I have seen, most notably with Boss Finley being a kind of riff on Big Daddy from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Here, I can't say that I like any of them, but I did find Chance and the Princess compelling.
Also, written later, this play deals openly with some things that other plays only hinted at: venereal disease, violence, gigiloism (is that a word?), etc... There is definitely a raw power to dealing with these things openly. And yet, I feel like something is lost with the openness. I never thought that Williams was hiding anything. But there was a beauty that came along with his power when he was forced to treat his subjects with a dash of subtlety.
The characters, as always, seem like variations on other Williams staples I have seen, most notably with Boss Finley being a kind of riff on Big Daddy from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Here, I can't say that I like any of them, but I did find Chance and the Princess compelling.
Also, written later, this play deals openly with some things that other plays only hinted at: venereal disease, violence, gigiloism (is that a word?), etc... There is definitely a raw power to dealing with these things openly. And yet, I feel like something is lost with the openness. I never thought that Williams was hiding anything. But there was a beauty that came along with his power when he was forced to treat his subjects with a dash of subtlety.
February 18, 2018
I didn't like this play as much as the other works of Williams I've read so far. The characters fell flat and the plot didn't have the tension I've come to expect from his writing. I also didn't enjoy the dialogue and felt the first act dragged on for too long.
July 25, 2020
{3.5}
i was not a massive fan of the start, and found it a bit confusing, but like all williams’s works, the characters drew me and i loved the themes of the play
i was not a massive fan of the start, and found it a bit confusing, but like all williams’s works, the characters drew me and i loved the themes of the play
September 22, 2024
Another set of hard characters created by a brilliant playwright. While the characters seem to be stereotypical southern, there are things to relate to by anyone.
Both the older successful actress and 29yo aspiring actor face the harsh truths of aging and limits. The interactions between these two allow for some good verbal barbs and barbed wire. The humor while not laugh out loud funny was enjoyable and lessened the tension of the rest of the play.
A review from December 2021 said “This play is not really about racism, it is about aging and the rot we acquire in the process.” I would slightly change that to be…. This play is about aging and the rot we acquire in the process set in a racist society.
Some quotes I like…
“Sundays go on for a long time.”
“Well sooner or later, at some point in your life, the thing that you lived for is lost or abandoned, and then… you die or find something else.”
“I’m not part of your luggage.”
Both the older successful actress and 29yo aspiring actor face the harsh truths of aging and limits. The interactions between these two allow for some good verbal barbs and barbed wire. The humor while not laugh out loud funny was enjoyable and lessened the tension of the rest of the play.
A review from December 2021 said “This play is not really about racism, it is about aging and the rot we acquire in the process.” I would slightly change that to be…. This play is about aging and the rot we acquire in the process set in a racist society.
Some quotes I like…
“Sundays go on for a long time.”
“Well sooner or later, at some point in your life, the thing that you lived for is lost or abandoned, and then… you die or find something else.”
“I’m not part of your luggage.”
June 10, 2023
Ένα ακόμα από τα μεγάλα έργα του εμβληματικού Αμερικάνου συγγραφέα. Ένα δημιούργημα, που πατά και επεξεργάζεται τα δύο αγαπημένα ζητήματα του συγγραφέα. Την αποτυχία και το χρόνο. Το πώς και τα δύο επιδρούν πάνω στη ζωή μας, το ίδιο καταλυτικά, το ίδιο διαβρωτικά. Κύρια ο "χρόνος", που για τον Ουίλλιαμς είναι ένα μεγάλο βίωμα που σηκώνει στον αέρα τον άνθρωπο.
Στο έργο του αυτό, θα βιώσουμε ένα ακόμα ζευγάρι "αποτυχημένων", τη μεγάλη ξεπεσμένη σταρ Αλεξάνδρα ντελ Λάργκο και τον νεαρό ζιγκολό εραστή της, ο Τσανς Γουέην. Και οι δύο πορεύονται μαζί, απελπισμένοι, προσπαθώντας να κρατηθούν στην επιφάνεια. Το γλυκό πουλί της νιότης, έχει φύγει απ' τη ζωή τους μέσα στο πέρασμα του χρόνου αφήνοντας πίσω του ερείπια, που καλούνται να διαχειριστούν ο καθένας ξεχωριστά.
Στο έργο του αυτό, θα βιώσουμε ένα ακόμα ζευγάρι "αποτυχημένων", τη μεγάλη ξεπεσμένη σταρ Αλεξάνδρα ντελ Λάργκο και τον νεαρό ζιγκολό εραστή της, ο Τσανς Γουέην. Και οι δύο πορεύονται μαζί, απελπισμένοι, προσπαθώντας να κρατηθούν στην επιφάνεια. Το γλυκό πουλί της νιότης, έχει φύγει απ' τη ζωή τους μέσα στο πέρασμα του χρόνου αφήνοντας πίσω του ερείπια, που καλούνται να διαχειριστούν ο καθένας ξεχωριστά.
July 7, 2025
Maybe thematically the most consistent of his plays that I've read, but inconsistent in quality. Felt a little pieced together, as if much of the play was written to fill in space between a few showstopper lines. The characters are flightier and more fickle than I've come to expect from him. It's very short so I'll plan to re-read it one day
June 12, 2025
feels like a 3 star? but also the last time i read a play might've been in high school (!)
i should've read this all in one sitting but for some reason was reading an act every 2-3 days, broke immersion for myself :/
i should've read this all in one sitting but for some reason was reading an act every 2-3 days, broke immersion for myself :/
August 4, 2025
I adore Tennessee Williams. I actually have no criticism as of right now because I really just think what he does in his plays is so fun and depressing at the same time, it's wonderful. I love the way that he makes even the most nihilistic of situations and characters somehow charming and humorous, glitzy I would say. I really love his style, I want to write like him.
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