Vieux Carré – The Wooster Group

The Wooster Group’s Version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré recently stopped at the Harbourfront Centre World Stage on March 28-31, 2012.  DART’s connection to the production was a panel discussion moderated by Praxis faculty member Dr. Natalie Alvarez in conjunction with the University of Toronto.  Its relevance to our production of The Blue Room stems from its somewhat similar narrative structure of a series of scenes or vignettes, although their structures are quite different: Vieux Carré is connected by a central protagonist/observer, while The Blue Room forms a ring of connecting scenes like a chain or a game of dominoes.

Vieux Carré is an autobiographical play based loosely on Williams’ experiences at a boarding house in New Orleans’ French Quarter.  It is a “memory play” much like The Glass Menagerie, with The Writer recalling his past and his various encounters with his land lady and fellow tenant as he comes to terms with his sexuality.

What it has in common with The Blue Room (besides its episodic structure) are its sketchy, caricature-like characters (while most have names, the anonymous central character is much like the archetypes of The Blue Room), and its overt exploration of sexuality (though in this case homosexuality is explored, while The Blue Room’s text does not address it).

Some of the reviews from the Wooster production mirror critics concerns over The Blue Room; Paula Citron called Vieux Carré “an endless, perhaps, even mindless, bore”[1] reflecting the impression that NYC critic Ben Brantley had with Hare’s play; or the Village Voice noting that “the piece has strong scenes filled with pungent language, but never fully coalesces.”[2]  This demonstrates the challenges facing plays with multiple scenes and characters that may have little in common between them: there are fewer opportunities at textually-based character development that comes more easily in traditional narratives.

The reviews haven’t all been bad, however, in fact they were generally favourable.  J. Kelly Nestruck observed that on “one level, the the Wooster Group's approach to the material seems simply a fancy way of showing off by rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same. From an aesthetic point of view, however, I found the unorthodox process informed the play in surprising ways that that emphasized the fragility of our remembrances of things past in the era of the online taunt: ‘Pics or it didn't happen.’”[3]  The challenge for The Blue Room is to find ways to crystallize its exploration of the disconnect between sexual fantasy and reality without overemphasizing the inherent “sameness” of each scene and keep the production compelling for audiences.

Harbourfront Centre: http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage2012/thewoostergroup.cfm

The Wooster Group's production page: http://thewoostergroup.org/twg/twg.php?vieux-carre/

The Wooster Group's video blog "dailies" from the production and tour, including their sojourn in Toronto: http://thewoostergroup.org/blog/dailies/vieux-carre/

Interviews of the director and cast:

Elizabeth LeCompte (classical TV)

Kate Valk (Gothamist)

Ari Fliakos (culturebot.net)

Scott Shepherd (TDF Stages) 

The original Mrs. Wire: Sylvia Miles (Edinburgh Festivals)