''The Death of Bessie Smith'' is a one-act play by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
, written in 1959 and premiered in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
the following year. The play consists of a series of conversations between Bernie and his friend Jack, Jack and an off-stage Bessie, and black and white staff of a
whites-only hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
on the death date of the famous
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
singer,
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...
, who died in a car wreck.
Production history
The play premiered in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
at the Schlosspark Theatre,
Berlin, Germany
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...
on April 21, 1960.
[Albee, Edwar]
"The Death of Bessie Smith"
'The American Dream ; The Death of Bessie Smith ; Fam and Yam: Three Plays''. Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1962, ,pp.46-48
It premiered
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
at the York Playhouse on March 1, 1961, in a double bill with Albee's ''
The American Dream.'' Directed by Lawrence Arrick, the nurse was played by
Rae Allen
Rae may refer to:
People
*Rae (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Rae (surname), including a list of people with the surname Nicknames for
* Rachel (given name)
* Rachelle
*Raquel
* Raven (given name)
* Reema
* Reena ...
, and Ben Piazza played "the young man".
The play opened on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in repertory with other Albee plays, at the
Billy Rose Theatre
The Nederlander Theatre (formerly the National Theatre, the Billy Rose Theatre, and the Trafalgar Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 208 West 41st Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, it was de ...
on October 2, 1968, for 12 performances. Directed by
Michael Kahn,
Rosemary Murphy
Rosemary Murphy (January 13, 1925 – July 5, 2014) was a German- American actress of stage, film, and television. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her stage work, as well as two Emmy Awards for television work, winning once, for h ...
played the nurse, and Ben Piazza played the intern.
The work was first staged in London's
West End at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...
in 1961 with
Gene Anderson as the nurse,
Tommy Eytle
Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle (16 July 1926 – 19 June 2007)Wilmer, Val"Tommy Eytle" (obituary) ''The Guardian'', 27 July 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2017. was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eytle's career was based in ...
as Jack,
Robert Ayres as the Father,
Avril Elgar
Avril Elgar Williams (1 April 1932 – 17 September 2021) was an English stage, radio and television actress.
Early life and career
Elgar was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. She trained at the London Old Vic Theatre School ...
as the second nurse, and
Richard Easton
John Richard Easton (March 22, 1933 – December 2, 2019) was a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial '' The Brothers''.
Life and career
Easton was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Mar ...
as the intern.
As part of an Albee Festival, the
Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, presented ''The Death of Bessie Smith'' in 2003.
New Brooklyn Theatre produced ''The Death of Bessie Smith'' in January 2014 at Interfaith Medical Center to raise awareness about several New York City hospitals in danger of closing.
Plot overview
The play is set in 1937 in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, in a segregated hospital and its surrounding grounds.
The character of Bessie Smith is only referred to in Albee's play and does not appear on stage. In early performances, Albee did not even allow music or pictures of her to be used.
Historical accuracy
The incident upon which the play is based is a myth that was largely accepted as fact until convincing evidence to the contrary appeared in the original 1972 edition of ''Bessie'', a biography of the singer.
[''Bessie'', by Chris Albertson (Yale University Press 2003).] Bessie Smith did indeed die following a car crash, but she was never refused admittance to a white hospital, which is the premise of Albee's play. She was taken directly to the Afro-American Hospital in
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...
, where she died some seven hours later. The idea that she was refused entry to the whites-only hospital originated in an article by jazz writer and producer
John Hammond in the November 1937 issue of ''
Down Beat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
''.
Characters
*Bernie: A black man, about forty, thin.
*Jack: A dark-skinned black man, forty-five, bulky, with a deep voice and a mustache.
*The Father: A thin, balding white man, about fifty-five.
*The Nurse: A southern white girl, full-blown, dark- or red-haired, pretty, cute, with a wild laugh. Twenty-six.
*The Orderly: A light-skinned Negro, twenty-eight, clean-shaven, trim, prim.
*Second Nurse: A southern white girl, blond, not too pretty, about thirty.
*The Intern: A southern white man, blond, well put-together, with an amiable face, thirty.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Death of Bessie Smith, The
Plays by Edward Albee
1959 plays
Plays set in Tennessee
Plays based on real people
Plays about race and ethnicity
Cultural depictions of Bessie Smith
Plays set in the 1930s
Biographical films about musicians