In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel
Encyclopedia
Synopsis
Mark is an alcoholic painter on the verge of a nervous breakdownMental breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
who is trying to boost his sagging career by developing a new style in his Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
hotel room. Instead, he has convinced himself he is the first artist to discover color, and it appears he has drifted into psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
as he spreads canvases on the floor, sprays paint at them with a spray gun, and rolls around on them in the nude.
Meanwhile, his promiscuous wife Miriam, a typical Ugly American
Ugly American
Ugly American is an epithet used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home...
, is loudly and crudely trying to seduce the bartender in the hotel lounge. Anxious to be free of her husband without losing his financial support, she has contacted his Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
art dealer and close friend Leonard and asked him to join them in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. When he arrives, she tries to persuade him to take her husband back to New York, but Mark dies. Feeling lost and without direction, she laments, "I have no plans. I have nowhere to go" as the curtain falls.
Production
Directed by Herbet Machiz, the play opened at the off-BroadwayOff-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...
Eastside Playhouse on the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on May 11, 1969 and ran for 25 performances. The cast included Donald Madden
Donald Madden
Donald Madden was an American theatre, television, and film actor best known for his role as John Dickinson in the film 1776 and his portrayal of Hamlet onstage in New York.-Life and career:...
as Mark, Anne Meacham
Anne Meacham
Mary Anne Meacham was a noted American actress of stage, film and soap opera.Born and raised in Chicago, Meacham left to study drama at Yale University, graduating with a degree in 1947.-New York stage:...
as Miriam, and Lester Rawlins
Lester Rawlins
Lester Rawlins was an American stage, screen, and television actor.Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rawlins appeared in off-Broadway productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Winterset, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Nightride, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for...
as Leonard.
In February 2007, the White Horse Theater Company mounted a revival directed by Cyndy Marion at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex in the Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
neighborhood of Manhattan.
Critical reception
In the New York Times, Clive BarnesClive 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 of the original 1969 production, "The play seems almost too personal, and as a result too painful, to be seen in the cold light of public scrutiny. Mr. Williams has, perhaps, never been overreluctant to show the world his wounds — but in his new play he seems to be doing nothing else . . . This is Mr. Williams's sad bird of loneliness — and, although the play repelled me it fascinated me with the author's occasional sudden resurgence of skill — there are plaintive notes of poetry recalling Williams at his very best . . . There are more flashes of genius here than in any of his later plays. Mixed with the feeble jokes . . . and all the hesitations of style the play is heir to, there is gold, gossamer and fire here, and there are bursting sharp exchanges of dialogue that recall The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
in their suddenly poignant pertinence . . . A strange play — but unlike Mr. Williams's previous play, it definitely makes me look forward to his next. But more pity and less self would be a distinct advantage."
Reviewing the 2007 production for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Mark Blankenship stated, "Flaws aside, the current revival by White Horse Theater proves the play is worth remembering . . . As in earlier experiments such as Camino Real
Camino Real (play)
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...
, Williams fractures language to enhance the unrealistic mood . . . This tactic points to the play's success in making palpable moments out of emotional concepts. Williams never quite integrates his metaphors with action . . . but his insights are still worth hearing."