This debut play from Edinburgh born Clare Cockburn delves into the childhood of one of America’s greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams and his sister Rose.
TENNESSEE, ROSE is set in a medical institution where Rose has been for many years after her mental health led to a cruel betrayal at the hands of her family and society. Felicia, a nurse, finds a way to connect with Rose, managing to elicit her story and that of her brother.
Tennessee’s work was driven by the guilt that haunted him over the procedures that Rose endured which left her in a state he called “tragically becalmed”. These emotions would be the driving force behind his best plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Suddenly Last Summer, whose leading female characters suffer from some condition that makes them alienated from the world and emotionally ill equipped to deal with its hardships.
Clare wrote the play from a desire to give a voice to a woman deprived of one.
She holds an MSc in playwriting from the University of Edinburgh and has previously written two children’s books, The Treasure Shio and Marmalade which was adapted as a stage play for the Fringe in 2016, with the Manhattan Children’s Theatre. Her short story AYE, ROBOT won the Martha Hamilton Writing Award in 2009.
TENNESSEE, ROSE is directed by Patrick Sandford (former Artistic Director of Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and Lyric Theatre, Belfast) who began his career at the Perth Theatre, Scotland.
The cast includes Anne Kidd (Shetland BBC1) as Rose, Aron Dochard (The Witcher) as a young Tennessee Williams/doctor and Helen Katamba (The Lost King) as Felicia. TENNESSEE, ROSE is co-produced by The Style Theatre and Pleasance Theatre.
Dates: 2 – 28 August (not 9, 16, 23)
Time: 12.10pm (60 mins)
Venue: Ace Dome, Pleasance, Bristo Square
Tickets: www.pleasance.co.uk
