The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1981 Page: 8 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Thresher/Fine Arts
Summer and Smoke: Just what the doctor ordered?
Steve Martiro and Sharon Thomas Montgomery
Summer and Smoke
University of Houston
Feb. 27-28, March 5-6
Long ago, in a halcyon villa far,
far away (Rome, in fact),
Tennessee Williams was basking in
the success of A Streetcar Named
Desire and, naturally, trying to
write yet another Broadway-
calibre play. He rewrote an old
"problem child", An Anatomy
Chart, and hurried it off to
capitalize on the receptive market.
He called his new creation
Summer and Smoke—a "tone
poem" he said it was—and it
enjoyed a hundred-show run on
Broadway.
SPACE
COLONIZATION
NOW!!
ALL INTERESTED IN FORMING
AN ACTIVE SPACE GROUP
CALL: PETE AT 480-7135
EVENINGS
But Tennessee Williams was
never satisfied with it. Critic
Harold Clurman pointed out that
the show was, quite frankly, a bit
melodramatic and expository.
Williams had to agree.
So, sequestered in Rome,
Williams devoted his attentions to
refurbishing the thing again. The
new version was titled The
Eccentricities of a Nightingale, and
with the help of his reworking, it
featured a couple more characters
and a little less "exposition".
You're probably wondering
what the point of all this history is.
In short, I agree with Clurman and
Williams—Summer and Smoke,
sensitive and welJ-crafted though it
may be, tends toward melodrama
and prosaic explication. All the
merits of the University of
Houston production aside,
Summer and Smoke has a
somewhat limited appeal and a
handful of bona fide "problems" to
boot.
♦ * *
Summer and Smoke revolves
around the neurotic attractions of
two recognizable residents of turn-
of-the-century Glorious Hill,
Mississippi: the Episcopal
UNDERGRADUATE GRANTS
for participation in the
SUMMER INSTITUTE ON
PLANETS AND CLIMATE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
in cooperation with the
NASA GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR
SPACE STUDIES
will select 15 students tot a 4-week lecture course and
6-week research session, devoted to the study of plane-
tary atmospheres and climate change, for a total of 6
points of academic credit The program will meet from
June 8 to August 14. 1981
Full financial support, including tuition and fees,
accommodations, a stipend, and round-trip travel ex-
penses to New York City, will be awarded to each parti-
cipant Applicants must have a background equivalent to
3 years of college training in mathematics and science
Applications in the form of a letter should be sub-
mitted by March 30 to Summer Institute on Planets and
Climate. 102 Low Library, Columbia University. New
York, NY 10027 The letter must include: home and
school addresses, telephone number, social security
number; a one-page typed statement of the applicant's
goals and interests; an official transcript of college
courses and grades Three professors familiar with the
applicant's work must provide letters of reference.
minister's daughter, Alma
Winemiller, and Dr. John
Buchanan, Jr., the local doctor's
son. When John, Jr. returns from
Johns Hopkins Medical School,
his life-long next-door neighbor,
Alma, is thrillied to the point of
palpitations—and the enticement
is by no means one way.
Approaching spinsterism. Alma
still lives in the Episcopal rectory of
Glorious Hill, giving voice lessons
and caring for her senile mother
under the watchful eye of the Rev.
Winemiller. Smoldering with
passion on the inside, masked with
a social air of grace and affected
gentility on the outside, Alma's
abundant energy has her bursting
at the seams with the anxiety of
repression. Dating for Alma, has
been limited to the parlor company
of effeminate pseudo-intellectuals,
and the sensual aspect of her
character is struggling to express
itself. It is none other than young
Dr. John who makes the diagnosis.
Young John is a jaded carouser,
much to the dismay of "his-father-
the-town-doctor", and his
unbridled carnality—not his
medical training—enables his
insight into Alma's condition.
Underneath her spiritual
deportment, Alma (Spanish for
soul) harbors an irritated
doppelganger, i.e., another
"person" inside her that's just
dying to get out. You can probably
guess Dr. John's "treatment."
John and Alma's contrasting
dispositions fuel this play of
opposites and parallels, riding a
swell of symbols along the way.
Initially, Dr. John is consumed by
his carnal propensity, the resort of
what Williams described as "a
Promethean figure in a stagnant
society"; Alma is doing her best to
be quintessential^ spiritual. Each
sees in the other something that
they desire, but as John ironically
recognizes, "I was more afraid of
your soul than you were of my
body." In actuality, that "fear" is
the source of their enticement.
The duality of Williams' "tone
poem" reflects itself in the set:
stage right houses the parlor of the
Episcopal rectory, stage left, the
doctor's examining room. John
and Alma themselves have
inanimate counterparts onstage, in
the form of a statue of "Eternity"
centerstage and an anatomy chart
in the doctor's office. Alma aspires
to the statuesque perfection of her
spirituality, and John doggedly
expounds that the "soul" does not
exist since he can't locate it on the
anatomical chart. In the course of
Summer and Smoke, Alma comes
to see that Eternity's "body is stone
and her blood is mineral water,"
and John admits that humanity is
"more than a package of rose
leaves," not wholly explainable by
his chart of bones and visceral
organs.
As Alma observes, "The tables
have turned with a vengeance." Dr.
John, Jr., sobered by the death of
his father and his new
responsibilities as town doctor,
says that Alma has "won the
argument," that he has opted for a
"reasonable existence". What's
more, he's now engaged to one of
Tennessee Williams'
SUMMER
AND
SMOKE
Alma's voice students, so the new-
cavalier finds her newly accepted
passion for the young doctor
thwarted by his own change of
disposition.
In the end, John has warmed to
the spiritual aspects of human
existence, and Alma is out in the
cold. The closing scene finds her in
the town square, in the shadow of
"Eternity", picking up a traveling
salesman.
* * *
The University of Houston's
current production handles this
dramatic "problem child" with a
good measure of grace and
sensitivity. Director Cecil Pickett
moves the drama at a suitably
unhurried. Southern pace, and the
actors move easily and naturally to
his orchestration. The comic
scenes lack the flourishes and
upbeat character at times,
though—Alma's "intellectual
society" provided only a modicum
of contrast to her tragic plight at
the opening night performance.
And some scenes of unmitigated
intensity, namely the shooting of
old Dr. Buchanon and young
John's climactic, passionate
embrace of his floosy, Rosa,
radiated awkwardness.
The end result, however, is
hauntingly successful, thanks to
the energy and empathy of the
actors. Sharon Thomas Mont-
gomery, as Alma, gives a
performance of unquestionable
sparkle, serving up a portrait of the
troubled minister's daughter that's
powerfully moving but never
overwrought. Steve Martino
conjures John Buchanon with
somewhat less success, but he is
competent and confident as the
jaded but dreamy-eyed young M.D.
Other standout performances
are given by Jenifer Blair as Alma's
ice cream-loving, kleptomaniacal
mother, Greg Baldwin as Alma's
mama's boy beau and Mary-jane
Buschlen as Nellie, the lass that
young John "tutors" into
betrothal.
Arch Andrus' set recreates the
Glorious Hill of old handily, and
the costumes and lighting are
expectedly first-rate. For the most
part, director Pickett has worked
well with the shortcomings of the
script, especially in his revision of
the opening scene; he's produced a
quality effort. U of H's Summer
and Smoke is certainly
worthwhile—though it may
enthrall only the die-hard fans of
Tennessee Williams.
—John Heaner
{ minutes uUEtT"~j
hy re6ge calcuujs
studies imbtcate that
we should project a
HCUfcEAM Of a fiee
hvdrafrt" oto the
ZOOrtCID RWJK -srtlp
6ARlttUNu5>, VJ£ sows&iPefc.!
PLEASE ours VflUR POGr
n&qj gsuld we
__ eve«AX, Grl&AtJTK
rY^L'sfoN&es fw
WA- s y<ru?
'rtexo'.scrtnAH?
DOhWD.
M£oW
maybe a
uarwesK
lg HAIRCRAFT
MEN'S CUT AND STYLE
$10.00
LADIES CUT AND STYLE
$15.00
Student ID Required
Redken RK Studio
2110 Lexington
526-5472
STUDENTS
Part-Time. Evenings, guys or
gals — no experience
necessary and students
preferred! 4-9 p.m. Call Mr
Edwards after 2 p.m. 464-0863
The Rice Thresher, March 5, 1981, page 8
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1981, newspaper, March 5, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245465/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.