A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Not About Nightingales

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3w, 9m

A raw, sprawling dramatization of real events at a Philadelphia prison in 1937.

Not About Nightingales

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 9m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • NOMINEE! 1999 Tony Award for Best Play

Details

Summary
An early work by the revered playwright that caused a sensation in Houston, New York, and London. This is a raw, sprawling dramatization of real events at a Philadelphia prison in 1937. Convicts who led a hunger strike to protest conditions were locked in a scalding cell where four of them died. Eva, a woman looking for work during the Great Depression, takes on a secretarial job at a prison. During her tenure, she bears witness to the staff's harsh treatment of inmates, and watches as a number of prisoners try to overthrow their overseer and escape their conditions. Williams presents a rough, complex portrait of Depression-era imprisonment. 
History

Not About Nightingales premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX in June 1998 under the direction of Trevor Nunn.

THE VOICE OF THE LORELEI
MRS. BRISTOL
EVA CRANE
JIM ALLISON (Canary Jim)
BOSS WHALEN - the warden
JACK BRISTOL (Sailor Jack)
SCHULTZ - a guard
BUTCH O'FALLON
THE QUEEN
JOE
MCBURNEY - a guard
OLIVER ARMSTEAD (Ollie)
SHAPIRO
JEREMY TROUT (Swifty)
MEX
KRAUSE
ALBERTS
TOM
CHAPLAIN
REVEREND HOOKER
GOLDIE
CHICK
GUARDS, CONVICTS, TROOPERS

  • Time Period 1930s
  • Setting A large American prison during the summer of 1938.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Cautions
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"The emotions, both savage and painfully delicate, that saturate this work are arguably more rich and varied in tone than those of any American dramatist." - The New York Times

REVIEWS

"Enthralling...A feverish, full strength compassion for people in cages makes Nightingales fly toward a realm of pain and beauty that is the province of greatness...The emotions, both savage and painfully delicate, that saturate this work are arguably more rich and varied in tone than those of any American dramatist...The voices of Williams's entrapped nightingales...refuse to fade when the play is plunged into its concluding darkness." - The New York Times

"The best American play so far this season...It adds to the reputation of one of America's greatest playwrights." - The New York Daily News

"Fascinating." - The New York Post

"Changes our perception of a major writer and still packs a hefty political punch." - London Independent

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

10 Tennessee Williams Plays to Perform
by Cathy Thomas
June 5, 2019

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    This title may have restrictions in place for London based productions. Please submit a licence request to confirm specific availability.

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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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