THE ANGEL IN THE ALCOVE

[n.p.] New York: [n.d.] 1943: Audrey Wood, 1943. 1st Edition. Soft cover. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Unsigned Playscript. Williams, Tennessee. THE ANGEL IN THE ALCOVE. [n.p.] New York: [n.d.] 1943. 8vo., 13 pp. rectos only. First Edition. Original carbon typescript short story [basis for Vieux Carré], punch bound blue stiff wrappers of the Liebling-Wood Agency, 551 Fifth Ave. New York. A fine House File Copy. [Audrey Wood was Williams' literary agent. From 1939 Wood helped guide & focus Williams' writing. With her nurturing, he created some of his greatest works, including: Menagerie, Streetcar & Cat]. Very uncommon example in private hands. Recognized as Williams's (quasi) autobiographical coming-out narrative which found major success not in the US but in the UK. "Of the numerous plays written in the later portion of Tennessee Williams's prolific career, perhaps the most satisfying and undoubtedly the most favorably received was the 1978 British production of Vieux Carré, directed by Keith Hack, presented first at Nottingham Playhouse (16 May 1978) & later in London at the Piccadilly Theatre (9 August 1978). The British staging came a year after the play's disastrous Broadway premiere. "What was potentially strongest in this chamber-music play of time, place, & memory has been botched by inept direction," noted T. E. Kalem in Time magazine, & Walter Kerr in the New York Times indicted the director for what he termed an "irresponsible production", suggesting that the play be given another staging with different personnel. He concluded his review: "I'm game for a second go". The British production proved to be the "second go" that Kerr had championed, and under Keith Hack's direction it emerged as a major success, evoking comparison with A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. Michael Coveney's review in the Financial Times was a rave: "Mr Williams returns to the London stage in blistering form" - Craig Clinton, Finding the Way: The Evolution of Tennessee Williams's Vieux Carre - Resources for American Literary Study 26:1.