The Red Devil Battery Sign

The Red Devil Battery Sign

The Red Devil Battery Sign is a 1975 drama written by American playwright Tennessee Williams. It was revised substantially before publication.

In October 1980, the Vancouver Playhouse produced Red Devil while Williams was writer-in-residence at the University of British Columbia. It was directed by Roger Hodgman and starred Diane D'Aquila (Woman Downtown) and Richard Donat (King Del Rey). The play received scathing reviews from the Vancouver and other Canadian papers. However, the Playhouse produced the project the following year at the world premiere of The Notebook of Trigorin, Williams' free adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.^[1]

The play was produced in Great Britain in 1977 at the Roundhouse Theatre, London (during Williams' lifetime) by Gene Persson. Williams chose Pierce Brosnan to play McCabe in the British premiere.

The original production of Red Devil Battery Sign was in 1975 in Boston and starred Anthony Quinn, Clair Bloom, Katy Jurado, Annette Cardona, and Steve McAddy. It was directed by Ed Sherin. Among a group of producers were David Merrick and Hilliard Elkins who was married to Ms. Bloom, although they divorced soon after the play closed. Mr. Williams was fully involved in the production during the New York City rehearsals, but in Boston he was absent part of the time. He sent in rewrites when requested.

The show got a poor review from the Boston critic and the closing notice was posted after a week or so of the run.

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