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Four Plays
Four plays by the gifted writer of prose and pioneer of modern theater, together in one volume.
Paperback, 496 pages
Published
November 4th 2003
by Signet Classics
(first published 1956)
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Scully Simone
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Tennessee Williams
Shelves:
maryliciousness,
college-uni
A collection of Tennessee Williams' most beautiful play, this book contains one of my absolutely favorite ones: "Summer and Smoke". If you enjoy Williams and his poetic way of introducing us to characters who are multi-layered, complicated and often neurotic, this book is a must-read.
Andrea
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like funny plays- not hilarious, but pretty funny
I picked this book because I read Period of Adjustment, not because I read this whole book, because I didn't;). Anyway, I loved Period of Adjustment. It was funny and unique and pretty much the only thing I read for AP LIT that didn't have a super depressing ending.
I like plays with plots. Tennessee Williams is the master. Summer in Smoke is a must-read for tragic-romantic types. Suddenly Last Summer was made into a movie starring Elizabeth Taylor. That's quality.
I've had this paperback 4-eva. I've read and re-read each of these plays countless times. Summer and Smoke still breaks my heart.
With Williams, it's always flesh and spirit, body and soul, in exquisite conflict. That persistent theme runs through this collection like a vein, with varying results. To my mind, Suddenly Last Summer is easily the best of the bunch. (Though I'll give a shout out to Summer and Smoke, which I liked better as On the Eccentricities of a Nightengale.) There's no such thing an unreadable Tennessee Williams (well, maybe The Rose Tattoo), though, so even the lesser known here are worth reading to see...more
Anne Thessen
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who loves Tennessee Williams, southern lit or drama
Recommended to Anne by:
Ricky
I love Tennessee Williams, so of course, I loved this book. The only play in this book that I hadn't already seen was SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER. I still loved reading the plays even though I had already seen them either on stage (SUMMER AND SMOKE, A PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT) or in film (ORPHEUS DESCENDING). I don't have the time or the qualifications to go into a full critique of TW plays, so I'll leave it at this. They were good and worth reading.
I read the first three of the four plays and now we're needing to break from it (it's Cherie's and my latest book club book) so I'll concentrate on school books, except for on my commute, now. Suddenly Last Summer was definitely my favorite, just so shocking and surreal, I don't think you can trust any of the characters as narrators, and it's just brilliant. I wasn't so into....oh, Summer and Smoke I didn't feel sympathy for any of the extremely self-centered characters. And I really liked Orphe...more
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I alway enjoy Williams' plays for their many-layered themes and their ability to bring to create vivid and memorable imagery. At once horrible and beautiful.
Oriana
added it
Four Plays by Tennessee Williams (2003)
fine
Summer and Smoke was definitely my favorite of these four Tennessee Williams plays, but they each have their own charm. All four of these plays were also made into films, and I think Williams translates particularly well to film. I especially want to see Suddenly Last Summer (Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift? Sign me up!)
Wow! You sure aren't guaranteed a happy ending when it comes to Tennessee Williams. I enjoyed all four of these plays, but "Period of Adjustment" was my favorite, closely followed by "Summer and Smoke."
Still rocks my world.
Burgendya
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone who has or hasn't read Tennessee William's plays.
Recommended to Burgendya by:
No one. I am a huge fan of the playwriter
These plays were excellent. I loved them all. Tennessee Williams was a brillant playwriter and I truely miss him. Now one write like how he did. So I give this book 2 thumbs up, and would recommend anyone to read it. =)~
I really LOVED Suddenly Last Summer; the characters were so engaging that V and I spent many letters analyzing the characters and their motivations. Summer and Smoke…I really did not like the characters and found it hard to get engaged.
Summer & Smoke and Orpheus Descending were probably my favorite two plays here. I wasn't fond of Suddenly Last Summer. Still, I enjoyed the collection. I can always vividly imagine the scenes in the plays.
Interested in the writing behind the great movies. I have to say, the movies gave me more of an emotional charge than the written plays. I suppose since they ARE plays... seeing them acted is the point.
Especially liked period of adjustment, so funny, it's amazing that reading a play can leave on so hassled and out of breath
I think 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' is still my favorite Williams play to date.
shocking how short the play "suddenly, last summer" is. i almost like the film more.
I really liked the last one, Period of Adjustment.
A snakeskin jacket and a guitar!
Sex is a terribly dangerous enterprise, especially in foreign countries or with anyone in Mississippi.
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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. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot...more
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