Camino Real (play)
Encyclopedia
Camino Real is a 1953 play by Tennessee Williams
. In the introduction to the Penguin edition of the play, Williams directs the reader to use the Anglicized pronunciation "Cá-mino Réal." The play takes its title from its setting, alluded to El Camino Real
, a dead-end place in a Spanish-speaking town surrounded by desert with sporadic transportation to the outside world. It is described by Williams as "nothing more nor less than my conception of the time and the world I live in."
Kilroy
, a young American visitor, fulfills some of the functions of the play's narrator, as does Gutman, (named after Sydney Greenstreet
's character from The Maltese Falcon
, but bearing more resemblance to Signor Ferrari, Greenstreet's character in Casablanca
) manager of the hotel Siete Mares, whose terrace occupies part of the stage. Williams also employs a large cast of characters including many famous literary characters who appear in dream sequences. They include Don Quixote and his partner Sancho, Marguerite "Camille" Gautier (see The Lady of the Camellias
), Casanova, Lord Byron, and Esmeralda
(see The Hunchback of Notre Dame
), among others.
Taking place in the main plaza, the play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic-defying events, including the revival of the Gypsy's daughter (Esmeralda)'s virginity and then the loss of it again. A main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant.
at the Actors Studio
in 1949, and later turned into a 1953 Broadway
production directed by Kazan with assistant by Anna Sokolow
and starring Eli Wallach
(as Kilroy), Frank Silvera
(as Gutman), Joseph Anthony
(as Casanova), Jo Van Fleet
(as Marguerite "Camille" Gautier), Jennie Goldstein (as the Gypsy), Barbara Baxley
(as Esmeralda), and David J. Stewart
(as the Baron).
With only 60 performances on Broadway, the play was not a mainstream success. Brooks Atkinson
of The New York Times
called it "a strange and disturbing drama," which seemed to be "a dark mirror" of "Mr. Williams's concept of life — full of black and appalling images." Director Elia Kazan later wrote in his memoirs that he had misinterpreted the play by infusing it with excessive naturalism.
(Kilroy), Victor Buono
(Gutman), Patrick McVey
(Don Quixote), Jean-Pierre Aumont
(Casanova), Jessica Tandy
(Camille), Sylvia Syms
(the Gypsy), David J. Stewart
(the Baron), Susan Tyrrell
(Esmeralda), and Clifford David
(Lord Byron). In his review for The New York Times
, critic Clive Barnes
said, "there are people who think that Camino Real was Tennessee Williams's best play, and I believe that they are right. It is a play that seems to have been torn out of a human soul, a tale told by an idiot signifying a great deal of suffering and a great deal of gallantry."
The UK's Royal Shakespeare Company
revived the play at the Swan Theatre
in 1996. The production was directed by Steven Pimlott
, and starred Leslie Phillips
as Gutman, Peter Egan
as Casanova and Susannah York
as Camille.
In June 1999, Nicholas Martin staged a production at the Williamstown Theater Festival, featuring Ethan Hawke
(Kilroy), Jeffrey Jones
(Gutman), Richard Easton
(Casanova), Blair Brown
(Marguerite Gautier), Christian Camargo
(Baron de Charlus and Lord Byron), Hope Davis
(Esmeralda), Kristine Nielsen (The Gypsy), and John Seidman (Lord Mulligan and Don Quixote). Reviewing the production in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
wrote that "... in his art as in his life, Williams could be grotesquely excessive and sloppy. But whatever he wrote, he tore it straight from his soul, and in this age of irony there is something especially nourishing in such sustained depths of emotion."
In October 1999, Michael Wilson
mounted another revival at the Hartford Stage
, with a cast including James Colby (Kilroy), Helmar Augustus Cooper (Gutman), Rip Torn
(Casanova), Betty Buckley
(Marguerite Gautier), Novella Nelson
(Gypsy), Lisa Leguillou (Esmeralda), John Feltch (Baron de Charlus, Lord Byron and Don Quixote), Natalie Brown
(Lady Mulligan) and Nafe Katter (Lord Mulligan).
In January 2009, director David Herskovits staged a new production at the Ohio Theater in SoHo
. This short version, which focused on Kilroy as the American boxer (played by Satya Bhabha), was a re-imagination of the original one-act play Ten Blocks on the Camino Real.
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
. In the introduction to the Penguin edition of the play, Williams directs the reader to use the Anglicized pronunciation "Cá-mino Réal." The play takes its title from its setting, alluded to El Camino Real
El Camino Real
El Camino Real The name may mean:-Roads:* El Camino Real , also known as the California Mission Trail, linked California's Spanish missions, sub-missions , stations , towns , and forts and El Camino went from east texas...
, a dead-end place in a Spanish-speaking town surrounded by desert with sporadic transportation to the outside world. It is described by Williams as "nothing more nor less than my conception of the time and the world I live in."
Kilroy
Kilroy was here
Kilroy was here is an American popular culture expression, often seen in graffiti. Its origins are debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle—a bald-headed man with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with the fingers of each hand clutching the wall—is widely known among U.S...
, a young American visitor, fulfills some of the functions of the play's narrator, as does Gutman, (named after Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca .-Biography:...
's character from The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
, but bearing more resemblance to Signor Ferrari, Greenstreet's character in Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
) manager of the hotel Siete Mares, whose terrace occupies part of the stage. Williams also employs a large cast of characters including many famous literary characters who appear in dream sequences. They include Don Quixote and his partner Sancho, Marguerite "Camille" Gautier (see The Lady of the Camellias
The Lady of the Camellias
The Lady of the Camellias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set...
), Casanova, Lord Byron, and Esmeralda
Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Esmeralda, or La Esmeralda , born Agnes, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame . She is a French Gypsy girl...
(see The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
), among others.
Taking place in the main plaza, the play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic-defying events, including the revival of the Gypsy's daughter (Esmeralda)'s virginity and then the loss of it again. A main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant.
Premiere
Camino Real was originated from a Williams's one-act play, Ten Blocks on the Camino Real. This series of 10 scenes, or "blocks", was first staged in a workshop by Elia KazanElia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
at the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
in 1949, and later turned into a 1953 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production directed by Kazan with assistant by Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow was a Jewish American dancer and choreographer.-Training:...
and starring Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
(as Kilroy), Frank Silvera
Frank Silvera
Frank Alvin Silvera was an American actor and theatrical director.-Career:Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica to a Spanish Jewish father and Jamaican mother. His family later emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston where Silvera attended English High School and Northeastern Law School...
(as Gutman), Joseph Anthony
Joseph Anthony
Joseph Anthony was an American playwright, actor, and director. He made his film acting debut in the 1934 film Hat, Coat, and Glove and his theatrical acting debut in a 1935 production of Mary of Scotland...
(as Casanova), Jo Van Fleet
Jo Van Fleet
Jo Van Fleet was an American theatre and film actress.-Career:Van Fleet established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's The Trip to...
(as Marguerite "Camille" Gautier), Jennie Goldstein (as the Gypsy), Barbara Baxley
Barbara Baxley
Barbara Baxley was an American actress of stage, film and television.-Early life:Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma and Bert Baxley.-Career:...
(as Esmeralda), and David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart was an American Broadway, film, and television actor.Born Abe J. Siegel in Omaha, Nebraska, Stewart was known primarily as a New York stage actor...
(as the Baron).
With only 60 performances on Broadway, the play was not a mainstream success. Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "a strange and disturbing drama," which seemed to be "a dark mirror" of "Mr. Williams's concept of life — full of black and appalling images." Director Elia Kazan later wrote in his memoirs that he had misinterpreted the play by infusing it with excessive naturalism.
Revivals
In January 1970, the play enjoyed its first Broadway revival at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, directed by Jules Irving and starring Al PacinoAl Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
(Kilroy), Victor Buono
Victor Buono
Charles Victor Buono was an American actor and comic.-Early life and career:Buono was born in San Diego, California, the son of Myrtle Belle and Victor Francis Buono . His maternal grandmother, Myrtle Glied , was a Vaudeville performer on the Orpheum Circuit...
(Gutman), Patrick McVey
Patrick McVey
Patrick McVey was an American actor who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town, Boots and Saddles, and Manhunt.-Early life and career:...
(Don Quixote), Jean-Pierre Aumont
Jean-Pierre Aumont
-Early life:Aumont was born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons in Paris, the son of Suzanne and Alexandre Salomons, owner of La Maison du Blanc . His mother's uncle was well-known stage actor Georges Berr. His father was from a Dutch Jewish family and his mother's family were French Jews...
(Casanova), Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
(Camille), Sylvia Syms
Sylvia Syms
Sylvia M. L. Syms OBE is a British actress. She is probably best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown , Ice-Cold in Alex , No Trees in the Street , Victim and The Tamarind Seed...
(the Gypsy), David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart was an American Broadway, film, and television actor.Born Abe J. Siegel in Omaha, Nebraska, Stewart was known primarily as a New York stage actor...
(the Baron), Susan Tyrrell
Susan Tyrrell
Susan Tyrrell is an American actress of Irish descent, known for her role as Ramona Rickettes in the film Cry-Baby.-Background:...
(Esmeralda), and Clifford David
Clifford David
Clifford David is an American actor born in Toledo, Ohio on June 30, 1938. He is recognized for his many Broadway, film and television performances.-Career:...
(Lord Byron). In his review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, critic Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
said, "there are people who think that Camino Real was Tennessee Williams's best play, and I believe that they are right. It is a play that seems to have been torn out of a human soul, a tale told by an idiot signifying a great deal of suffering and a great deal of gallantry."
The UK's Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
revived the play at the Swan Theatre
Swan Theatre (Stratford)
The Swan Theatre is a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is built on to the side of the larger Royal Shakespeare Theatre, occupying the Victorian Gothic structure that formerly housed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre that preceded the RST but was...
in 1996. The production was directed by Steven Pimlott
Steven Pimlott
Steven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
, and starred Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
as Gutman, Peter Egan
Peter Egan
Peter Egan is a British actor known for playing smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. He is married to retired actress Myra Frances.-Early life:...
as Casanova and Susannah York
Susannah York
Susannah York was a British film, stage and television actress. She was awarded a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for the same film. She won best actress for Images at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival...
as Camille.
In June 1999, Nicholas Martin staged a production at the Williamstown Theater Festival, featuring Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
(Kilroy), Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television series, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, Charles Deetz in Beetlejuice, and Dean of Students Edward R...
(Gutman), Richard Easton
Richard Easton
Richard Easton is a Canadian actor. He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.-Biography:...
(Casanova), Blair Brown
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
(Marguerite Gautier), Christian Camargo
Christian Camargo
Christian Camargo is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role of Brian Moser in the Showtime drama Dexter.-Early life:...
(Baron de Charlus and Lord Byron), Hope Davis
Hope Davis
Hope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
(Esmeralda), Kristine Nielsen (The Gypsy), and John Seidman (Lord Mulligan and Don Quixote). Reviewing the production in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
wrote that "... in his art as in his life, Williams could be grotesquely excessive and sloppy. But whatever he wrote, he tore it straight from his soul, and in this age of irony there is something especially nourishing in such sustained depths of emotion."
In October 1999, Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson (director)
Michael Wilson , currently serving as artistic director at Hartford Stage, is an American stage director working extensively in regional theatre, Broadway, and Off-Broadway....
mounted another revival at the Hartford Stage
Hartford Stage
Hartford Stage, located in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the leading resident theatres in the United States, known internationally for entertaining and enlightening audiences with a wide range of the best of world drama, from classics to provocative new plays and musicals and neglected works...
, with a cast including James Colby (Kilroy), Helmar Augustus Cooper (Gutman), Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
(Casanova), Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
(Marguerite Gautier), Novella Nelson
Novella Nelson
Novella Nelson is an American actress and singer.Nelson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Evelyn Hines and James Nelson. Her career in films did not begin until she was approaching middle age, with a small part in 1978's An Unmarried Woman. Over the next thirty years, she continued...
(Gypsy), Lisa Leguillou (Esmeralda), John Feltch (Baron de Charlus, Lord Byron and Don Quixote), Natalie Brown
Natalie Brown (actress)
Natalie Brown is a Canadian actress who grew up in Timmins, Ontario. Brown landed her first print campaign for Bonne Bell when she was sixteen and went on to become the Heinz Ketchup girl. She modeled for Noxema and Max Factor. She studied fine arts at York University in Toronto...
(Lady Mulligan) and Nafe Katter (Lord Mulligan).
In January 2009, director David Herskovits staged a new production at the Ohio Theater in SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...
. This short version, which focused on Kilroy as the American boxer (played by Satya Bhabha), was a re-imagination of the original one-act play Ten Blocks on the Camino Real.