''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'' is the final full-length
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
of
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...
, written perhaps as early as 1970, but chiefly between 1978 and the fall of 1982. The play’s literary roots for characters and situations can be found in Williams’ 1945 short story "Tent Worms".
The play title is taken from a line in
Elinor Wylie
Elinor Morton Wylie (September 7, 1885 – December 16, 1928) was an American poet and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. "She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensu ...
's poem "Let No Charitable Hope."
The play follows what Williams described as a "nightmarish", “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell” story involving the kidnapping of the rich southerner Babe Foxworth by a nefarious corporation.
The play finally received its world premiere in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in April 2012, directed by David Schweizer and starring
Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...
as Babe.
Overview
Plot
Babe Foxworth, the world’s richest woman, has been abducted to an undisclosed coastal location. She has been brought there by the Gideons, a
secret service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
-like security team, employed by Kudzu Chem, the clandestine corporation behind her vast wealth. With Babe are Billy Foxworth, her younger gay husband, and Jerry, his even younger male secretary from
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Under a flickering
Aurora Borealis
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of br ...
, they meet their wacky neighbors from the invisible house next door, the opera singing Matron and her mentally challenged son Playboy who can only say "Coo" and is a compulsive masturbator. Mac, Matron’s gigantic husband who communicates through grunts, and his diminutive interpreter are also part of the surreal world. They play out a twisted game of survivor as the play hurtles towards a violent ending.
Subject matter
The subject of ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'' according to
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...
is
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
and also corporate
greed
Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as Social status, status, or Power (social and politica ...
.
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...
believed the play had the content of a major work,
and in a 1981 ''
Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
'' interview called the play “important,” “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell.”
Williams' three different versions roughly over the years 1978–1982 are cited as becoming, “more nightmarish, going from a basically realistic play with some fantastic overtones to becoming one of Williams’ most outlandish creations.” ''Masks Outrageous'' (the play’s last title) is probably the most outrageous version of the play.” “The final version combines bizarre characters, dark humor and exorbitant theatricality.”
Linda Dorff, a scholar of Williams's later works, in her
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...
doctoral dissertation categorizes the play as having an "apocalyptic conspiracy plot."
According to Dorff, ''Masks Outrageous'' and ''
The Red Devil Battery Sign
''The Red Devil Battery Sign'' is a three-act play by American writer Tennessee Williams. He copyrighted the text in 1975 for its premiere in Boston, but revised the play in 1979; that later version was published by New Directions in 1988.
Syno ...
'' present "without doubt, the bleakest world views to be found in the Williams canon.... where characters are sure to meet with destruction." In it, "he (Williams) moves the frame of his drama onto a wide-angle epic stage and the frame becomes more serious..."
Script history
Williams wrote the manuscript over a span of four years until his death, in 1983. It was kept private for a number of years by Gavin Lambert, who worked with Williams on it and to whom he entrusted the manuscript. Shortly before Lambert died in 2005, he released the manuscript.
Scholars debate exactly how the multiple drafts developed, and who exactly was involved.
First manuscripts
While working on the original concepts for the play, Williams apparently never did an assembly of the developmental subject material to his liking.
He is known for doing wide exploration of his subjects: of character, atmosphere, and story. This exploration eventually solidifies, then becomes a final assemblage and later an approved draft. It has been suggested by
John Uecker, Williams's former assistant, that Williams used two plays of
James Purdy
James Otis Purdy (July 17, 1914 March 13, 2009) was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright who, from his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work ha ...
's, "Children Is All" and "Cracks" as inspiration for the content and dialogue structure.
Williams wrote at least three drafts, full copies of which have been identified in
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Draft fragments are held at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
's
Houghton Library
Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of Art ...
. The names of the drafts in chronological order are ''Tent Worms'', ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere,'' and ''Gideon's Point''. (A workshop production of ''Gideons' Point'' was produced at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival in August 1982). Finally, an end draft ''Masks Outrageous'', edited by Williams with Gavin Lambert, was placed in the
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
archives in New York.
Linda Dorff's work asserts the existence of only two drafts: ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'', and ''Masks Outrageous''. Her 1970 date of Williams' first draft is at odds with the 1978 pointed to by other scholars. However, a draft of the play held by the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
does bear this 1970 date.
According to Prosser, Dorff is unaware of the ''Gideon's Point'' production in Williamstown (p. 375, Linda Dorff's NYU Doctoral Thesis), which is mentioned by Prosser in his book ''The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams''.
Published scholarship is often unclear which of the script versions are being referenced and the titles ''Masks Outrageous'' and ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'' are at times used interchangeably.
This is despite the fact that the first draft (''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'') and last draft (''Masks Outrageous'') are radically different in tone and style.
Press statements have also been known to confuse the fact that there are four distinct versions throughout the evolution of the work in the archives.
Editors
Before his death, Williams entrusted the script to Gavin Lambert. Lambert is named as Editor on some of the drafts to the version ''Masks Outrageous''. Other drafts state “revised by Gavin Lambert.” However, how much Lambert actually contributed to the drafts has been debated by scholars. According to Prosser, Lambert's contributions left no significant changes to ''Gideon’s Point'' nor ''Masks Outrageous'', as the latter seems near identical to the former.
Various Lambert drafts are held at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
.
In his introductions, Lambert states that he entered into the material in 1981, and also 6 months before Williams died. Linda Dorff, who interviewed Gavin Lambert in 1996, states: "According to Lambert, Williams had agreed to allow him to direct the play." She makes no assertions about his editing of it, other than his name appears as editor on the title page of an undated version.
Before Lambert died in 2005 he had interested several producers in staging Tennessee Williams final full-length play. After his death the producers continued to develop the script for production and brought in a chain of distinguished editors and dramaturgs to bring the play more in line with the dialogue, situations and structures found in William’s original drafts.
Williams’ literary secretary towards the end of his life, John Uecker, worked on the play,
as did Gore Vidal and the director Peter Bogdanovich. In published statements Vidal claims that there are only a few Williams manuscript pages when in fact there are hundreds.
There are two assignments of copyright at the United States Copyright Office signed January 3, 2008, and recorded January 18, 2008: one by
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...
and one by
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian.
One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on R ...
.
Although the application page says "Total number of titles in the document: 2" and the fee appears to be for two titles, the actual Assignment of Copyright states "with respect to the play ''Masks Outrageous'' (alternative title ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'') written by Tennessee Williams." These are two distinct versions, not a single play as evidenced in the Columbia University archives. At the United States Copyright Office, one cannot find a record affirming Lambert's editorial contribution to “Masks Outrageous".
For some time it was unknown who had editorial control of the manuscript. It appeared not to be Vidal.
A version of the script dated November 6, 2007 surfaced which bears ''Final Reconciled Draft'' on the title page,
but did not name
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...
as editor. For some time, the press reported that the play would be put on in spring 2008, with the script edited by Vidal, directed by Bogdanovich, and starring
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...
.
At one point later Vidal publicly announced that the play “may never be able to be done”.
The final reconciled script was edited by director David Schweizer and
dramaturg
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...
Joe E. Jeffreys.
Premiere
The play finally received its world premiere in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
at the Culture Project on April 16, 2012. It was directed by Williams' former lover, David Schweizer. The cast included Academy Award nominee
Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...
as Babe and Tony nominee
Alison Fraser
Alison Fraser (born in Natick, Massachusetts) is an American actress, voice actress and singer who has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in television and film. In concert, she has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White Hou ...
as Mrs. Gorse-Bracken.
The poster was created by artist
Noah Scalin
Noah Scalin (born June 2, 1972) is an American artist, known for his creation of the award winning Skull-A-Day art project weblog. He co-runs the art & innovation consulting firm that he founded Another Limited Rebellion in Richmond, Virginia wi ...
.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Official Website for 2012 Premiere
{{DEFAULTSORT:In Masks Outrageous And Austere
Plays by Tennessee Williams
1982 plays