Word: staging
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Thomas Lanier--in the shadow of the footlights. Williams had a long-distance father, moved from the deep South to St. Louis and spent three miserable years in a shoe warehouse, presumably writing poems on shoe boxes--just like his character Tom. But Tom is more than the stage presence of the author. He is a voice, a specter in his own dreams, giving "reality in the form of illusion" but always running to the illusionary happiness of movies and liquor until he breaks free, like his father, sacrificing his mother and sister for his adventure...
...quibbles with director Kathy Lo: Tom and Jim wear suits though they both labor in a warehouse. Why? Tom's makeup is too heavy, almost feminine. A subtle grittiness is missing. Also, Tom gives his narrator speeches front and center stage, not separate enough, not isolated enough. A perch on the fire escape/balcony, even a stroll nearer the audience would have been a nice touch. The lighting was properly dim, but the frequent blackouts for scene changes were too stark, too sudden, t.v.-like, often disturbing the sense of a flow of dream images. Finally, Williams' script calls for fiddle...
...make a counterattack. Reason: the Shari'a (Islamic canon law) prohibits the shedding of blood in holy places, but the rule can be suspended if the clergymen agree that there is sufficient justification. After several hours of deliberation, the 'ulama gave the King unprecedented powers to stage a battle within the Sacred Mosque...
...only way to deal with the future of South Africa is the way we started to deal with it, namely, to allow each proud people-Zulus, Xhosas, Sesothos-to achieve their self-determination and independence from South Africa. When you have arrived at that stage, you can bring together a constellation of southern African states working together on common interests. South Africa is not changing its policy to satisfy our critics. South Africa is developing in the way it is because we believe that by doing this, we shall become a constellation of states strong enough to withstand Communism...
...latest outburst of spy mania, the English may be said to have embarked upon the last stages of the long drawn-out obsequies of the upper classes. Never again, we may be sure, shall we hear any serious suggestion that so-and-so, being a gentleman, may be relied on to tell the truth, be loyal to his country and behave with sexual propriety. The eclipse of the gentleman has happened stage by stage, as did that of the medieval knight at arms, with P.O. Wodehouse playing the part of Cervantes in affectionately revealing the absurdity of knight errantry...