BBC 4 Radio: Book of the Week

Broadway Success and Childhood

Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh Episode 1 of 5

Duration:

15 minutes

First broadcast:

Monday 22 September 2014

The new biography of America's great playwright by the acclaimed theatre critic, John Lahr. In today's episode, echoes of Tennessee Williams's troubled childhood find their way into his first Broadway success, The Glass Menagerie.

John Lahr's new and evocative biography of one of America's greatest playwrights vividly illustrates how Tennessee Williams drew on his personal experiences to create some of the most memorable characters of the American stage and screen such as Blanche, Stanley, Big Daddy, Brick, Amanda and Laura. Drawing on Tennessee Williams's poems, journals and private correspondence with friends and colleagues, Lahr creates a compelling portrait of William's turbulent personal life and his extraordinarily successful career.

John Lahr was the Senior Drama Critic at the New Yorker for twenty years. His other books include, Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton.

Read by Damian Lewis with Trevor White as the voice of Tennessee Williams and with Elaine Claxton, Bettrys Jones and Ian Conningham.

source: BBC.co.uk