The Rose Tattoo review: inspired Tennessee Williams revival with Traveller verve

The Complex, Dublin 7, until Saturday, May 20

Lloyd Cooney and Denise McCormack in The Rose Tattoo at The Complex. Photo by George Hooker

Katy Hayes

Though ragged at the edges, this glorious confection of a production makes Tennessee Williams’ lesser-seen 1951 play a rich experience. Denise McCormack gives it socks (and wedge heels) as the central character Sarah, and director Vanessa Fielding’s approach has an emotional expansion that perfectly suits the playwright’s intense vision.

Originally set among the Italian community of Mississippi in the 1940s, it is now transposed to a contemporary North Dublin Traveller site, where Sarah has a house and is surrounded by colourful neighbours, some horse-owning. The adaptation by Fielding and Catherine Joyce adroitly alters the script to reflect this setting.

Early in the play, Sarah receives the news that her beloved truck-driving husband has been shot and killed. Seen by others as a bit of a “Lady Muck”, she is nastily informed that he had been having an affair. She slips into a downward spiral, locks her teenage daughter into the house and goes about in a dirty slip swigging from a whiskey bottle. She abuses her kindly neighbours who are only trying to help. Relief eventually arrives in the form of Al (Lloyd Cooney), a younger man who reminds her of her dead husband. When this alternative desire-object arrives, the stakes are raised and the play’s narrative propulsion carries it high.

The Complex auditorium provides an acoustic challenge, and you have to listen very carefully. The first half is episodic and some stiffness in performance takes a while to settle down, but the world soon grows on you. Sabine Dargent’s set and costumes make excellent use of Sarah’s profession as a dressmaker, with tailor’s dummies and various gowns strategically strung about. Conleth White’s lighting creates an alluring atmosphere. And Paddy Keenan’s sweet live music adds a warm campfire feel.

Good revivals of classic plays must speak to the contemporary moment. This production certainly does that; it’s a terrific idea to refract Irish Traveller culture through the over-the-top currents of Tennessee Williams’ brain. The play shifts seamlessly from its Italian community origins: the religious superstition; the close-living neighbours; the sense of social separateness; the young widowhood; the bigoted slurs; all seem a perfect fit. “We are Travellers, we are passionate people,” says Sarah. This inspired production serves up Williams’ passionate playwriting with gritty glamour and verve.

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