Trei decenii de teatru american pe scena românească. Tennessee Williams
Three Decades of American Drama on the Romanian Stage: Tennessee Williams

Summary/Abstract: Our paper deals with the journey of Tennessee Williams’ drama on the Romanian stage .His greatest productions such as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Orpheus Descending, The Night of the Iguana, Summer and Smoke, The Sweet Bird of Youth, to mention just a few, became known to the Romanian public due to the theatre representations which made a tremendous contribution to the great success the Amerian drama enjoyed in our country.The American drama at large - Tennessee Williams, included- has entered a lot of Romanian theatres repertory and greatly benefited from their eagerness to constantly promote it and make it known to the Romanian theatre –goers in the 1960s,1970s and 1980s. It is obvious that the Romanian theatres were honestly concerned with receiving the true universal values promoted by the American drama revealing the rich significance of symbols and topical issues the Romanian society was also confronted with. Staging the most famous American dramatists’ plays on the Romanian stage also imposed a renewal of the means of expression and forms of performance at the same time, in accordance with the developments in the domain. The first play staged in our country was The Glass Menagerie in the season 1960-1961,under the directorship of Dinu Negreanu and the stage management of Liviu Ciulei, at Municipal Theatre in Bucharest. Then the play was staged at Bulandra Theatre where there were about 357 representations during four seasons. This play together with A Streetcar Named Desire became the true smash hits of the decade throughout the 42 theatres of the country. Orpheus Descending was first staged at the National Theatre in Cluj-April 1962-being followed one month later-May 1962-by a new stage setting in Bucharest. The other great success A Streetcar Named Desire was staged at Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Theatre in the season 1965-1966 by the famous director Liviu Ciulei. In the 70s and 80s The Night of the Iguana, The Sweet Bird of Youth, or The Milk Train Doesn t Stop Here Anymore manage to give a more comprehensive image of the depth of the writer’ s thinking and talent of touching upon the most sensitive aspects of the human soul. We have analysed numerous articles and reviews published in the cultural magazines and newspapers issued during a period of more than three decades trying to understand and then point out the dimension of Tennessee Williams success with the Romanian public without neglecting the role the Romanian actors , stage directors or producers played in this process.

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