ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΓΡΑΦΟΣ: Tennessee Williams "Sweet Bird of Youth" play 1959 πρεμιέρα Μάρτιος 1959 Elia Kazan Paul Newman Geraldine Page Θεατρογραφικά

Πέμπτη 28 Μαρτίου 2024

Tennessee Williams "Sweet Bird of Youth" play 1959 πρεμιέρα Μάρτιος 1959 Elia Kazan Paul Newman Geraldine Page Θεατρογραφικά

Tennessee Williams

“ Sweet Bird of Youth ”

theatrical play 1959

directed by Elia Kazan

Starring

Paul Newman

Geraldine Page

Sidney Blackmer

Rip Torn

Diana Hyland

Madeleine Sherwood

Logan Ramsey

Πρεμιέρα: 10 Μαρτίου 1959

Martin Beck theatre, N.Y.

Θεατρικές κριτικές δημοσιεύματα 1959

Θεατρογραφικά

Geraldine Page, Paul Newman

δημοσίευμα: Life, April 20, 1959

παρουσίαση του θεατρικού έργου:

( το θεατρικό προηγήθηκε της ταινίας:1962 )

LOVERS IN QUEST OF YOUTH

Superb actors bring fireworks to Tennessee Williams’ drama of decadence

In most plays of Tennessee Williams, one can expect to find a preoccupation with evil, degeneracy and moral decay. His latest Broadway hit, Sweet Bird of Youth, is no exception. Yet his dogged devotion to the forlorn, the forgotten and the foregone—and two superb acting jobs— make sparks of brilliant theater shine through.

As a fading but flamboyant movie star named Ariadne Del Lago, Geraldine Page cuts both a horrifying and comically magnificent figure as she seeks to forget her lost youth by taking vodka, hashish and a young gigolo.

In the role of Chance Wayne, her young lover, Paul Newman makes another unsavory character sympathetic. He too is unstrung by the first sign—his thinning hair—that youth is fading, and clings to his false dream of being a glamor boy and floating on a pink cloud of success.

Driving across the country, Chance and Ariadne stop over in a Louisiana gulf town where the play comes to its climax. Chance wants to take up again with a childhood sweetheart named Heavenly. Because of their affair, her father plans a brutal assault that will deprive Chance of his manhood. While the indomitable Ariadne escapes to resume her career, Chance resigns himself to being maimed.

Under Elia Kazan’s highly charged direction, Sweet Bird of Youth is not everybody's cup of theatrical TNT. But it eloquently points out Tennessee Williams’ moral: man’s eternal corruption of mankind. And as a showcase for a pair of virtuoso talents the play could hardly be bettered.

Life magazine, April 20, 1959, p. 71.