A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur
Encyclopedia
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur is a one-act play with two scenes by Tennessee Williams
.
-like middle-aged civics teacher at the local high school, fantasizes her cad
of a beau, school principal T. Ralph Ellis, is really Prince Charming
after allowing him to seduce her in the back seat of his car. Her slovenly but good-hearted hard-of-hearing roommate Bodey unrelentingly urges Dottie to strike up a relationship with her portly, fashion-challenged, cigar-chomping twin brother Buddy (who never is seen onstage). Sophie Gluck, a German
immigrant
manic-depressive
mourning the loss of her beloved mother, is another tenant in the building, and Helena is Dottie's upscale and haughty friend and colleague.
Dorothea is planning to leave the crowded, tacky efficiency apartment she shares with Bodey and move in with Helena in order to have a larger and nicer place in which she can entertain the man she believes intends to marry her. Helena arrives to get a check from Dorothea to cover her share of the first month's rent. Dorothea is scheduled to join Bodey and Buddy for their weekly Sunday picnic
in Creve Coeur Park
, a short trolley car
ride away, but she delays her departure, certain Mr. Ellis is going to call. Unbeknownst to her, his engagement to another woman has been announced in the society section of the morning newspaper, which Bodey, anticipating her reaction, has managed to conceal from her. Helena cruelly reveals the news, leaving Dorothea devastated and no longer interested in moving to a more expensive apartment she no longer needs and can't afford. Angered by the sudden change in plans, Helena tells Dorothea she's on a social and cultural level with Bodey and Buddy, and therefore undeserving of her friendship, and stalks out. Dorothea, realizing the unappealing Buddy may be her only chance for love, rushes off to catch him and his sister at the trolley stop.
in 1971. Craig Anderson, director of the off-Broadway
Hudson Theatre Guild in New York City
, read it in 1977 and agreed to stage it. Williams expanded and revised it, and the play, directed by Keith Hack, who had directed a critically acclaimed production of the Williams play Vieux Carré
in London
two years earlier, premiered at the Spoleto Arts Festival
in Charleston, South Carolina
in June 1978, with Shirley Knight
as Dorothea. Mel Gussow
of the New York Times described it as "tender, poignant and measurably human" but added, "this is still a play in evolution."
Williams continued to work on the play and changed its title to A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur. Again directed by Hack, with Knight reprising her role, it opened at the Hudson Guild Theatre in January 1979. Reviewing it in the New York Post
, Clive Barnes
said, "This is not your usual Tennessee tourist trip" and added, "But it is sweet, honest, compassionate, different and totally enjoyable." The play closed the following month.
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...
.
Plot synopsis
Set in St. Louis in the mid-1930s, the play focuses on four women struggling for a sense of identity and independence. Dorothea, a deluded Blanche DuBoisBlanche DuBois
Blanche DuBois is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire...
-like middle-aged civics teacher at the local high school, fantasizes her cad
Rake (character)
A rake, short for rakehell, is a historic term applied to a man who is habituated to immoral conduct, frequently a heartless womanizer. Often a rake was a man who wasted his fortune on gambling, wine, women and song, incurring lavish debts in the process...
of a beau, school principal T. Ralph Ellis, is really Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
after allowing him to seduce her in the back seat of his car. Her slovenly but good-hearted hard-of-hearing roommate Bodey unrelentingly urges Dottie to strike up a relationship with her portly, fashion-challenged, cigar-chomping twin brother Buddy (who never is seen onstage). Sophie Gluck, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
immigrant
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
manic-depressive
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
mourning the loss of her beloved mother, is another tenant in the building, and Helena is Dottie's upscale and haughty friend and colleague.
Dorothea is planning to leave the crowded, tacky efficiency apartment she shares with Bodey and move in with Helena in order to have a larger and nicer place in which she can entertain the man she believes intends to marry her. Helena arrives to get a check from Dorothea to cover her share of the first month's rent. Dorothea is scheduled to join Bodey and Buddy for their weekly Sunday picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
in Creve Coeur Park
Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park
Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park is a St. Louis County park located in Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States. The park is the largest in the St. Louis County Parks system and includes Creve Coeur Lake, an oxbow lake which is the largest natural lake in Missouri...
, a short trolley car
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
ride away, but she delays her departure, certain Mr. Ellis is going to call. Unbeknownst to her, his engagement to another woman has been announced in the society section of the morning newspaper, which Bodey, anticipating her reaction, has managed to conceal from her. Helena cruelly reveals the news, leaving Dorothea devastated and no longer interested in moving to a more expensive apartment she no longer needs and can't afford. Angered by the sudden change in plans, Helena tells Dorothea she's on a social and cultural level with Bodey and Buddy, and therefore undeserving of her friendship, and stalks out. Dorothea, realizing the unappealing Buddy may be her only chance for love, rushes off to catch him and his sister at the trolley stop.
Productions
In 1976, Tennessee Williams wrote Creve Coeur, a one-act play he considered a companion piece to Demolition Downtown, a short work that had been published in EsquireEsquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
in 1971. Craig Anderson, director of the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Hudson Theatre Guild in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, read it in 1977 and agreed to stage it. Williams expanded and revised it, and the play, directed by Keith Hack, who had directed a critically acclaimed production of the Williams play Vieux Carré
Vieux Carré (play)
Vieux Carré is a play by Tennessee Williams. It is an autobiographical play set in New Orleans. Although he began writing it shortly after moving to New Orleans in 1938, it wasn't completed until nearly forty years later.- Plot synopsis :...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
two years earlier, premiered at the Spoleto Arts Festival
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in June 1978, with Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
as Dorothea. Mel Gussow
Mel Gussow
Melvyn H. Gussow was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for The New York Times for 35 years.-Biography:...
of the New York Times described it as "tender, poignant and measurably human" but added, "this is still a play in evolution."
Williams continued to work on the play and changed its title to A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur. Again directed by Hack, with Knight reprising her role, it opened at the Hudson Guild Theatre in January 1979. Reviewing it in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, 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, "This is not your usual Tennessee tourist trip" and added, "But it is sweet, honest, compassionate, different and totally enjoyable." The play closed the following month.