CityLife

Vieux Carré @ Library Theatre

IF you enjoy people watching, you are in good company. So did the great American playwright, Tennessee Williams.

His play, Vieux Carré, written in 1978, is an observation of people he met at 722 Toulouse, a boarding house in New Orleans, and similar hostels, in the 1930s.

The action takes place at that address in the late 1930s and the pivot, generally believed to be Williams himself, is simply called éthe writeré.

It falls to Mark Arends' considerable skills to demonstrate the playwrightés inadequacies, especially his shyness and his difficulty in admitting his sexuality even to himself.

He also copes with a poverty that sometimes means having to pawn his precious typewriter and with the grief of his grandmotherés death.

He is central to the plot because he is also the narrator.

But the real linchpin is Mrs Wire (Frances Jeater), the landlady of the seedy establishment that is now a shadow of its former cast iron glory.

Though she stands no nonsense, Mrs Wire is almost motherly to most of her tenants and after her mind starts to go, really believes the writer is her son.

There is a shocking moment, well carried out, when, in a fit of pique at the orgy going on in the basement studio, the landlady pours boiling water through a hole in the floor, scalding those below.

When police knock on the door, we see Mrs Wire and her eight tenants on stage together for the first and only time.

Clinging

Usually the cast appear in twos and threes, clinging to their inadequate neighbours to ease their loneliness.

This is illustrated in two sexually frank scenes.

The first is where Nightingale, played by Manchester Evening News award winner, Robert Demeger, a consumptive artist, seduces the writer.

The other happens when two (straight) inadequates who have been sharing a bed, quarrel.
What follows is explicit and unpleasant. Yet it sums up the hopelessness of, not only the two concerned, but also the other characters as well.

The pair, Jane, who has a problem only revealed at the end and Tye, a drug addict and womaniser, show Ruth Gibson and Nathan Nolan at their acting best.

Vieux Carré is beautifully written with threads of humour lifting the despair.

It is well directed by Roger Haines and has an admirably elaborate and flexible set.

When the sad ending comes, we have got to know these people well.

Above all, we have learnt what makes Tennessee Williams tick.

Vieux Carré is at the Library Theatre until Saturday, November 11. é6 - é18 (é6 for Friday, October 20 early bird first week special only). Call 0161 236 7110.