Features

Five reasons to see… The Hotel Plays

Editorial Staff
Off-West End

This October Defibrillator Theatre Company are taking over three suites across three floors of the Grange Holborn Hotel in central London to perform three previously unseen Tennessee Williams’ plays – Green Eyes, The Travelling Companion and Sunburst. Here, Green Eyes director James Hillier tells us why we should go and see the productions.

1. Last of the Tennessee Williams Premieres
 
James Hillier: This is the UK premiere of these three plays. As you may well know Tennessee Williams isn’t writing much any more so there’s not many “I was the first to see…” moments left for this great writer.
 
2. Site Specific Theatre
 
JH: What better place to see a collection of plays set in a hotel than in an actual hotel. Tennessee Williams experimented a great deal toward the end of his life and wrote a number of plays set in hotels. When he was alive producers didn’t quite know what to do with these shorter plays but nowadays we’ve all become very site-specific savvy. The world of theatre and it’s audience have at last caught up with the great man.
 
3. Whites of their Eyes
 
JH: Almost no writer does passion and the thundercloud of common crisis quite like Tennessee. In this show you’ll be seeing this as close as it gets… the audience will be SO close to the actors you will see the whites of their eyes. This show is not for the faint hearted!
 
4. The Holborn Grange Hotel

JH: We’re putting this show on in a 5 star Hotel that oozes faded grandeur. You can go to the theatre any week of the year but how often do you get to hang out in five star luxury when picking up your ticket. You can have a beer or a cocktail in the bar and if you’re hungry, the head chef at The Grange has designed a special New Orleans style menu to keep you in that southern state of mind before or after the show.
 
5. 3 for the price of 1
 
JH: The Hotel Plays is a collection of three plays. So you’re buying one ticket but you’re getting to see three plays. Three for the price of one… can’t ask better than that. Oh, and there will be a couple of surprises along the way!