Subtitles Tennessee Williams

Last night I went to see a Stagetext captioned performance of Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams, and I enjoyed it so much that I'm still grinning from ear to ear over 12 hours later.

Tennessee Williams is my favourite poet and playwright you see. In my final year at uni, I lived, breathed and even spent all my beer money on that man, ordering rare books from America, soaking up the poignant mix of tragic characters and humorous lines, and generally falling in love with him. He’s even on my dream dinner party list, along with Jeremy Clarkson, Clive James and Katie Fforde.

When I saw there was a performance of one of the few plays of his I hadn't dissected through lengthy study sessions, I jumped at the chance to see some of his work from a fresh perspective.

Now, I'm still quite out of practice at going to the theatre and when I read that the performance was 2 hours and 45 minutes long, I was slightly concerned that I might fall asleep or get bored. But what I was forgetting was that I would be watching it as a hearing person. I would be able to follow every single little thing.

And not only was it magical, it was also the quickest 2 hours and 45 minutes of my life. I didn't want it to end. And even though I know Tennessee rarely gifts his characters with happy endings, I couldn't help hoping that this time he would.

One hilarious moment was when Hertha, the dowdy bookish underdog declares that at 28 she's an old maid. At 29 and 30, and both single, Miss K and I burst out laughing. It was a fascinating perspective of Deep South attitudes of that period, and how one mistake could leave you sat rocking on the porch until the end of your days waiting for your man to come back.

If that's the case, I'd better start looking for a house with a porch! Teehee!