This week at the Burton Taylor Studio, a new rendition of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer is a feast for the eyes and the eardrums. In true Tennessee Williams fashion, all facets of the stagecraft were tuned to the atmosphere of the scene, despite the intimacy of the theatre. Music intensified as we saw Catharine Holly’s mental deterioration, lighting narrowed as her extensive monologues paced faster and faster, and maybe it was just the front row, but the stench of tobacco definitely sold the gritty feel.
A one-act play, Suddenly Last Summer is one of Williams’ more obscure works, yet the themes of A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof linger. With sinister threats of lobotomies and uncertainty of the truth, we are transported to a midcentury New Orleans and forced to decipher the backstories of these characters through trailing speeches and thick tension. Lead actress Céline Denis embodies the elderly Mrs Violet Venable, with her eerie facial expressions leaving the audience markedly unsure of her next word. Her fingers subtly but erratically tread over one another as she recounts the almost incestuous obsession Mrs Venable has with her cultivated yet morally corrupt son, Sebastian. Her eyes do not move, her body remains stiff in her wheelchair, until moments of rage lead her to snap. She is theatrical and over-the-top, but that is exactly what she should be. Her devilish plans to force a lobotomy on her niece are absurd, but that is exactly what we should expect from the melodrama of the Southern Gothic. Denis stands out as one of the highlights of the show, along with Hafeja Khanam as Catharine Holly, the mentally-ill niece of Mrs Venable.
Khanam dominates the final scenes of the play, with impressive monologues and exuding gripping emotion. She stands almost uncomfortably close to the audience, each twitch in her expression is visible to us. Her highs are high (and incredibly loud), fighting Sister Felicity (Kaitlyn Walsh) for the solace of a cigarette. Her lows are also low; her voice trails off, she clings to the excellent Dr Sugar (Jem Hunter) in mental and physical agony, meticulously recalling the summer she spent with Sebastian, the summer in which he procured for homosexual men, and was then cannibalised by small children. It sounds absolutely absurd, but Khanam’s delivery is so convincing that even the most ridiculous of premises can be taken as sincere, and open our eyes to such a powerful metaphor.
When asked about her favourite symbols used in the production, Céline Denis told Cherwell: “I think my favourite one was the comparison Catharine makes between Sebastian and bread. It really connected the dots for me and made me realise how Tennessee Williams constructs Sebastian as an elusive Christ-like figure, especially with the symbolism of blood throughout the play.”
She also says that this is her first time acting in a university play, an impressive feat for the second-year Christ Church Art Historian. “I prepared for my role by reading all my lines in a southern American accent then transposing them back into Received Pronunciation. I was trying to find a way to channel the concept of the ‘southern belle’ through a British perspective, which was pretty interesting.”
Suddenly Last Summer at the Burton Taylor Studio was certainly not one to miss – with standout performances from Céline Denis and Hafeja Khanam, the production was uncomfortably thought-provoking in the best way. A highlight of Week Four, Suddenly Last Summer exemplified creative uses of space, ear-splitting wails, and gripping performances that demand your attention.
