Some Problems for The Moose Lodge (1980) is my favorite play in the collection. Written three years before his death, when Williams was virtually forsaken by the theatrical establishment that had nourished him all those salad years ago, it is a play of immense sadness, utter chaos, and infinite compassion. I will be surprised if this collection does not inspire subsequent productions. Just when you may begin to think you’ve lost him in these last, lost works, Tennessee Williams comes roaring back at us in all his manic, disheveled, life-embracing wonderfulness. It would be a hard person who could resist him. This is a man who loved life despite everything.

Finishing these plays, I feel a bit like I’ve gone through his wastepaper basket. I wish I could pedal over and ask him if that was okay. I have a pretty strong feeling he would say yes, with a smile and a cackle, and head for the White Street Pier for his legendary daily swim.

Terrence McNally
Key West
December 2010

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ONE-ACT PLAYS

AT LIBERTY

At Liberty was produced by Ellen Stewart at La Mama Experimental Theater Club in New York City where it ran from May 14 through May 24, 1964. It was directed by Danny Gershwin; costumes were designed by Ellen Stewart; and Bob Douglas was the stage manager. The cast, in order of appearance, was as follows:

Place: Blue Mountain, Mississippi. Time: the present, September. 2:30 a.m. Gloria La Greene is not very proud of her home. It may be seen why when a spotlight reveals a section of stage to represent the corner of an antiquated living room. A middle-aged woman in a dingy wrapper is seated stoically on a red-plush sofa. Beside her is a table supporting a red-globed oil lamp with a fringe of glass pendants. The outside door and a window are in the right wall; inner door to the left. There is an oval mirror, gilt-framed, and a large “glamour photo” of Gloria La Greene. (This is her stage name. Her real name is Bessie.)

The window is streaming with slow September rain. The woman sits rigidly as in a daguerreotype picture. A noise in the hall indicates Gloria’s return. The door is pushed slightly open and the mother stiffens still more at the sound of an altercation.

GLORIA [from offstage]: No, that’s enough, that’s enough! Charlie, don’t tear me to pieces.

[Mother clears her throat and sits up very straight.]

Shhht. [Closes door from outside. There is a short silence; then a man’s laugh.]

CHARLIE [offstage]: Good night, Gloria.

GLORIA: Thanks for a marvelous time!

[She enters. Gloria is a thin, feverish-looking blond whose stage experience is stated with undue emphasis on her makeup. She wears a soiled white satin evening dress, part of an “excellent wardrobe,” and carries a copy of Billboard that she throws on the table.]

Well. The Reception Committee!

MOTHER: What was the trouble between you?