Period of Adjustment

Play by Tennessee Williams

For the film based on the play, see Period of Adjustment (film). For the 1979 episode of M*A*S*H, see Period of Adjustment (M*A*S*H).

First edition (publ. New Directions)

Period of Adjustment (subtitled High Point is Built Over a Cavern) is a 1960 play by Tennessee Williams that was adapted in the film version of 1962.

Both the stage and film versions are set on Christmas Eve and tell the gentle, light-hearted story of two couples, one newlywed and the other married for five years, both experiencing pains and difficulties in their relationships. The two male characters are veterans of the Korean War. The younger of the two experiences post traumatic stress (shellshock, battle fatigue, combat stress reaction), and the older man suffers from feelings of inadequacy towards his wife, the daughter of his boss. However, the observance of each other’s troubles brings both couples to realize what they have and to reconcile their own relationships.

Williams wrote the first draft of the play in November 1958 "in a rush of activity partly induced by drugs."[1] It was workshopped for a week in December 1958 and officially premiered at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway on November 10, 1960. It was presented directed by George Roy Hill, the stage settings and lighting were by Jo Mielziner, the costumes were by Patricia Zipprodt, General Manager Joseph Harris, and the production stage manager was William Chambers. The play, which Williams subtitled "a serious comedy," was a departure from the playwright's usual dark dramas, and was written partly in response to a Hollywood columnist who had asked why his plays were always "plunging into the sewers."[2] Williams responded to the criticism by writing Period of Adjustment and arguing, in a piece that was published in The New York Times,

> The theatre has made its greatest artistic advance through the unlocking and lighting up and ventilation of the closets, attics, and basements of human behaviour and experience. No significant area of human experience should be held inaccessible, provided it is presented with honest intention and taste, to the writers of our desperate time.[2]

The play received average reviews and closed March 4, 1961 after 132 performances. The original cast in order of appearance was:[3]

* James Daly as Ralph Bates
* Barbara Baxley as Isabel Haverstick
* Robert Webber as George Haverstick
* Helen Martin as Susie
* Esther Benson as Lady Caroler
* Nancy R. Pollock as Mrs. McGillicuddy
* Lester Mack as Mr. McGillicuddy
* Charles McDaniel as The Police Officer
* Rosemary Murphy as Dorothy Bates

In February 2006, the play was revived at the Almeida Theatre in London.

## Footnotes

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1. ^ Spoto 1985, p. 228.
2. ^ a b Rocamora 2006.
3. ^ Williams, Tennessee (November 1976). Tennessee Williams: Four Plays. New York City, New York: Signet Books. pp. 9–10\. ISBN 9780451514387.

## References

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* Spoto, Donald (1985). The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams. Boston: Little Brown. ISBN 0-306-80805-6.
* Rocamora, Carol (February 18, 2006). "Delicate people". The Guardian. London. Retrieved June 18, 2011.

## External links

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* ​Period of Adjustment​ at the Internet Broadway Database
* Review of 1960 production at Variety

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Works by Tennessee Williams

Plays|

* Candles to the Sun (1936)
* Spring Storm (1937)
* Fugitive Kind (1937)
* Not About Nightingales (1938)
* Battle of Angels (1940)
* Auto-da-Fé (1941)
* The Glass Menagerie (1944)
* You Touched Me! (1945)
* Stairs to the Roof (1947)
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
* Summer and Smoke (1948)
* The Rose Tattoo (1951)
* Camino Real (1953)
* Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
* Orpheus Descending (1957)
* Suddenly Last Summer (1958)
* Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
* Period of Adjustment (1960)
* The Night of the Iguana (1961)
* The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963)
* The Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968)
* In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)
* Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? (1969)
* Out Cry (1971)
* Small Craft Warnings (1972)
* The Two-Character Play (1973)
* The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975)
* This Is (An Entertainment) (1976)
* Vieux Carré (1977)
* A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979)
* Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)
* The Notebook of Trigorin (1981)
* Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)
* A House Not Meant to Stand (1982)
* In Masks Outrageous and Austere (1983)

Novels|

* The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950)
* Moise and the World of Reason (1975)

Short story
collections|

* Hard Candy: A Book of Stories (1954)
* Three Players of a Summer Game and Other Stories (1960)
* The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four Short Stories (1966)
* One Arm and Other Stories (1967)
* Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of Stories (1974)

Screenplays|

* The Glass Menagerie (1950)
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
* The Rose Tattoo (1955)
* Baby Doll (1956)
* Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
* The Fugitive Kind (1959)
* Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966)
* Boom! (1968)
* The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (1957, filmed 2008)

Non-fiction|

* "The Catastrophe of Success" (1947)
* "A Streetcar Named Success" (1947)

Poetry|

* In the Winter of Cities (1956)
* Androgyne, Mon Amour (1977)

Film adaptations|

* The Glass Menagerie (1950)
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
* The Rose Tattoo (1955)
* Baby Doll (1956)
* Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
* Suddenly Last Summer (1959)
* The Fugitive Kind (1960)
* Summer and Smoke (1961)
* The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1961)
* Period of Adjustment (1962)
* Sweet Bird of Yourth (1962)
* The Night of the Iguana (1964)
* This Property Is Condemned (1966)
* Boom! (1968)
* Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
* The Glass Menagerie (1987)
* The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)

TV adaptations|

* Three by Tennessee (1958)
* The Glass Menagerie (1966)
* Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966)
* The Glass Menagerie (1973)
* The Migrants (1974)
* Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976)
* Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984)
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1984)
* Sweet Bird of Youth (1989)
* Orpheus Descending (1990)
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1995)
* The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003)

Related|

* List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams

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