Following last year’s immensely successful translation of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, directed by Vanessa Fielding and co-translated by Vanessa and Catherine Joyce, Dr. Ciarán Leinster has published an article in The Tennessee Williams Annual Review titled: “The Rose Tattoo in Dublin, 1957 and 2023: From the Police in the Lane to the President in the Banana Warehouse.”
The article juxtaposes the landmark 2023 show with the infamous 1957 production at the Pike Theatre on Herbert Lane. Whereas the 2023 production received widespread acclaim, and was attended by President Michael D Higgins, the 1957 show was raided by the police on accusations of lewdness, resulting in the arrest of director Alan Simpson.
The 2023 translation, which re-situated Williams’ story from Italian-American immigrants in the Deep South to modern-day Irish Traveller life, was a radical re-imagining and of it, Leinster says:
Increasingly, productions of classic plays by canonical authors have to justify their reasons for existing. Growing awareness of the need to incorporate marginalized voices, as well as boredom with the homogeneity and familiarity of the canon, drive theaters and audiences to seek out the new, and the amount of time that has elapsed since the original productions challenges relevance…Fielding’s 2023 production of The Rose Tattoo in Dublin is the benchmark by which contemporary interpretations of notable works should be judged…The creative decision to reimagine the play in a Traveller context - with substantive input from the community, in a work that spoke to many of their anxieties - took the translation beyond the bounds of a dramatic exercise or game. This genuine attempt to involve a radically marginalized community made a well-known play both familiar and innovative…Ideally the production will act as an example for future directors to carve new interpretations from canonical works. (p50-51.)
If you attended last year’s show, or are a fan of Williams’ theatre, Leinster’s contrast between two starkly different Irish productions of The Rose Tattoo is incisive commentary, and is available in print here.