A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Two Character Play (Out Cry)

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 1m

Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power in one of Tennessee Williams’ most personal, mystifying, haunting, provocative, and oftern funny works.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 1m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Experimental
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary

Finding themselves deserted by their troupe and faced with an audience expecting a performance, actor/siblings Clare and Felice enact The Two-Character Play. As they dip in and out of performance, they find it difficult to differentiate themselves from their roles and reality from illusion. Also known as "Out Cry". 

A part of the collection The Theatre of Tennessee Williams Vol. 5.

History

The Two Character Play premiered at the Quaigh Theatre in New York City in August 1975 under the direction of Bill Lentsch.

CLARE - an actor on tour; sister to Felice
FELICE - an actor on tour; brother to Clare

  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)

Media

REVIEWS

The Two-Character Play, Tennessee Williams’s rarely seen fever dream of an eternal folie à deux, [doesn't] just strike sparks. [It's] a raging conflagration that keeps changing form and direction." - The New York Times

"Williams expanded his vision of theatre as a protean art, plastic and political, as fluid as film and as structurally solid as sculpture." - The New Yorker

"The writing feels almost avant-garde at times, but the author isn’t some young hot shot from the Yale School of Drama — it’s Tennessee Williams. “The Two-Character Play,” ... may not be among his masterpieces, but its Gothic-grotesque vibe weaves a compelling spell..." - New York Post

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.

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Authors

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) explored passion with daring honesty and forged a poetic theatre of raw psychological insight that shattered conventional proprieties and transformed the American stage. The autobiographical The Glass Menagerie brought what Mr. Williams called “ ...
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