296
PARTISAN REVIEW
Int.:
It seemed to be more poetical, less conflicted than
Cat
and
Streetcar.
Williams:
You know, I got tired of long plays; I don't want
to
sit three
hours and listen to these long, long plays. I know that I can say what
I have to say in an hour or fifteen minutes.
Int.:
Do you still read the Greeks?
Williams:
I used to read the Greeks when I was young, but I can't read
them anymore. One can 't write a tragedy today without putting
humor into it. There has to be humor in it now; it's so hard for
people to take tragedy seriously because people are so wary now. I
have seen few tragedies that were successful without humor in them.
Int.:
What about this new play?
Williams: Red Devil Battery Sign?
It's the best thing I've written in a
long time. It's a tragic love story with a great deal of music.
It
takes
place in Dallas, Texas and the hero i5 the leader of a band of
Mariachis. They sing between each scene and sometimes during the
scenes and dancing too-it's an expensive thing to put on .
Int.:
Are you getting into a new form?
Williams:
Yes, a new form. I think my new plays reflect new attitudes. I
hope they do.
Int.:
What are some of the new attitudes you think might be reflected in
your new plays?
Williams:
You got me! hahaha! I remain a romanticist and a sensual–
ist and a lover of God and a believer. What else good can I say about
myself (hahaha) I got a lot of bad things in me; I ain't about to tell
you, though.
Int.:
Got a lot of bad things in you?
Williams:
In me, but they are even there in my work, you know. I don 't
want to talk about it.
Int.:
What is the basis for a metaphor of cannibalism in
The Desire and
the Black Masseur,
and
Suddenly Last Summer?
Williams:
Man devours man in a metaphorical sense. He feeds upon
his fellow creatures, without the excuse of animals. Animals actually
do it for survival, out of hunger. Man, however, is doing it out of, I
think, a religious capacity. I use that metaphor
to
express my
repulsion with this characteristic of man, the way people use each
other without confidence.
Int.:
The violent images you found in
Titus Andronicus,
when you
were reading it as a kid, did you ever imagine you would create
images like that, like the image of a man being eaten by boys in
Suddenly Last Summer?
