Oh, Big Daddy...

One hundred years ago today the gay dramatist and writer, author of many of Elizabeth Taylor's finest screen roles, Tennessee Williams was born.

Over at the Dolores Delargo Museum of Camp, he is our latest exhibit...

As befits a centenary year, Tennessee Williams revivals are popping up on stages across this country (as well as the US) - not least two of his previously never staged works I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark on Sundays and A Cavalier For Milady, both at the tiny Cock Tavern Theatre pub in Kilburn, of all the unlikely places.

Read more in the Evening Standard

It is probably too much to expect a new big London staging of A Streetcar Named Desire, nor Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - and I am not sure the West End is ready for either after Debbie Allen's last attempt at the latter closed prematurely - but we can live in hope!

Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Ban it!

As dear Daniel Radcliffe celebrates the debut of his dick on Broadway (as Equus opens there this week) we too can celebrate a milestone.

For today is the 40th anniversary of the triumphal lifting of the control of the censors over British theatre. Amazingly this remarkable law, brought in in 1737 to counter the rise of satirical drama and reinforced (unsurprisingly) by the Victorians, made it illegal for any new or adapted play to be performed without the permission of the Lord Chamberlain - until 1968.

According to an excellent article by Michael Billington in What's On Stage: "Over the years, plays by Sophocles, Ibsen and Shaw were subject to bans. Both A View from the Bridge and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof had to be staged in London, initially, under members-only "club" conditions to evade the censor."

Read his article

Unbelievable, really, in this day and age. The first controversial performance in London - staged one day after the ban was lifted - was the hippy musical Hair, which became an overnight success.

Nowadays of course we hardly bat an eyelid to controversy (unless of course you happen to be a fan of Mary Whitehouse, a member of the Christian Voice bunch of bigots, or write for the Daily Mail), and here are a few examples of theatrical successes we might never have otherwise seen:

Sodomy (from Hair)

The Internet is for Porn [from Avenue Q]

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Loot

Shopping and Fucking

Phew