Suddenly Last Summer & The Parade

Suddenly Last Summer & The Parade, or Approaching The End of a Summer by Tennessee Williams Suddenly Last Summer – Catharine Holly has witnessed the murder of her cousin Sebastian, which has sent her to a psychiatric hospital. When Sebastian’s mother, Mrs. Venable, invites a psychiatrist to question Catharine about her story, she paints a picture so graphic it’s almost unbelievable. Mrs. Venable would rather not believe it and wishes to have her son’s secrets remain secrets. In one of Tennessee Williams’ most haunting pieces of writing, how far will a mother go to preserve her son’s reputation? The Parade, or Approaching The End of a Summer – "Love makes some people charming but it makes me dull." In the summer of 1940 Williams lived in Provincetown, Mass., where he fell in love for the first time - the man was Kip Kiernan, a dancer and Canadian draft dodger. Their affair lasted most of the summer, until Kip broke it off and left with a woman. Williams immediately drafted The Parade, which he finished in the 1960s. This play, which is related to the full-length Something Cloudy, Something Clear, not only presents a completely unguarded story about gay men, but also a portrait of passions unrequited and passions denied, that reveals the depth of compassion which can be found in friendship.