This quality Family Drama from Tennessee Williams captures the early magic that was to go into his later classics A Streetcar Named Desire ; A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Night of The Iguana yet also tellingly prefigures the tragedy which was to end the life of Williams as a neglected , forsaken alcoholic ebbing his last lonely days in a Hotel Room in New York.
The opening speech of the play captures the role of the dramatist "Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion."
The play was written during the second World War when Williams was contracted to write material for a film studio though it harkens back to his personal family experience in the depression laden 30s.
The pay is produced by the innovative production company Shared Experience who are working on a re-working of a 2005 production of the Famous Bronte Sisters.
This video gives a small taste of the brilliantly directed stage tensions.
Here is a highly illuminating interview with the director Polly Teale , in which she poignantly identifies the play as a Love Letter by Williams to his Sister , who ended up being given a state directed lobotomy in very unenlightened times when such an operation was considered a progressive option , Tennessee had a close loving bond with his Sister and a lot of his personal battles with alcohol and drugs are said to emanate from concern and guilt of her welfare.
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