Suddenly Last Summer

Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams is a play which will be performed at Beccles Public Hall on Friday 10 November by the Suffolk-based Open Space Theatre Company.

It’s set in New Orleans in the early days of the use of lobotomies to “cure” serious mental behaviour. A young woman is threatened with one of these risky brain operations in a desperate bid to stop her relating a macabre account of the death of her cousin.

Catharine (correct) Holly has witnessed the death of her cousin, Sebastian Venable, while the two were holidaying in Spain. But her devastating account of his death – and his lifestyle – cannot be accepted by his mother, Violet, who calls in a doctor with the aim of getting him to agree to undertake a lobotomy on Catharine, in order to silence her.

Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn starred in a 1950s film based on the play. It was followed in 1993 by a television adaptation starring Maggie Smith and Natasha Richardson.

In the Open Space production, which will visit seven venues throughout the Waveney Valley, Cathy Gill is Catharine and Joe Edwards the doctor.

Director, David Green, said: “In the days of Donald Trump and post-truth, this play has a contemporary feel as the characters struggle to separate truth from illusion.”

Box office tel. 01502 770060. For more information about the play tel. Open Space Theatre Company, 01986 894411. You can also visit www.becclespublichall.co.uk or call at the Box Office in person from Monday – Saturday, 10am – 3pm


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