The Rose Tattoo

Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, although one of his lesser-known masterpieces, was an instant hit with both the viewers and the critics when it first opened in 1951 on Broadway. It won a Theatre World Award and Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play (Eli Wallach), Best Featured Actress in a Play (Maureen Stapleton), and Best Scenic Design. It was revived on several occasions over the decades, and the 1966 and 1995 revivals bagged Tony Awards as well.

The play deals with complex characters with repressed sexual urges. There is an element of duplicity and unrequited desires that seem to be dormant throughout the plot, waiting to burst out and throw the characters lives’ into utter disarray. BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Marisa Tomei steps into the shoes of the conflicted Serafina while Emun Elliott plays Alvaro Mangiacavallo. The cast is headed by the accomplished Trip Cullman, who is well-known for directing John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation and Tolins’ The Last Sunday in June.

The Story

The Rose Tattoo takes audiences into the world of an Italian-American widow living in the state of Mississippi. She has withdrawn from the world and lives in self-imposed solitude, expecting her daughter to follow in her footsteps as well. She soon finds out about her late husband’s infidelity from a woman named Bessie. Infuriated and deeply hurt, Serafina goes on to commit a string of violent and shameful events such as attacking a priest in the local church. She soon falls in love with brash truck driver, Alvaro, and asks him to take her around town. The events that follow accentuate Serafina’s yearning for company and her subsequent emotional transformation.

Good For

Adult Audiences | Tennessee Williams Buffs | Fans of Marisa Tomei

Critic Reviews

“There is so much sexual tension festering in Serafina Delle Rose's house that Williamstown Theatre festival seems about to erupt in a spontaneous combustion of female libido and longing.”

• Curtain Up

“The Rose Tattoo’ at Williamstown, a definitive production, not to be missed!”

• Chicago Tribune