27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Plays by Tennessee Williams

Author:Tennessee Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: New Directions

CURTAIN

Lord Byron's Love Letter

CHARACTERS

THE SPINSTER.

THE OLD WOMAN.

THE MATRON.

THE HUSBAND.

Lord Byron’s Love Letter

SCENE: The parlor of a faded old residence in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the late nineteenth century. The shuttered doors of the room open directly upon the sidewalk and the noise of the Mardi Gras festivities can be faintly distinguished. The interior is very dusky. Beside a rose-shaded lamp, the Spinster, a woman of forty, is sewing. In the opposite corner, completely motionless, the Old Woman sits in a black silk dress. The doorbell tinkles.

SPINSTER: (rising) It’s probably someone coming to look at the letter.

OLD WOMAN: (rising on her cane) Give me time to get out. (She withdraws gradually behind the curtains. One of her claw-like hands remains visible, holding a curtain slightly open so that she can watch the visitors. The Spinster opens the door and the Matron, a middle-aged woman, walks into the room.)

SPINSTER: Won’t you come in?

MATRON: Thank you.

SPINSTER: You’re from out of town?

MATRON: Oh, yes, we’re all the way from Milwaukee. We’ve come for Mardi Gras, my husband and I. (She suddenly notices a stuffed canary in its tiny pink and ivory cage.) Oh, this poor little bird in such a tiny cage! It’s much too small to keep a canary in!

SPINSTER: It isn’t a live canary.

OLD WOMAN: (from behind the curtains) No. It’s stuffed.

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