A little-known Tennessee Williams radio play from the late 1930s has just appeared in The Strand Magazine, a periodical that has featured works by Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and John Steinbeck.
The Early Days of Tennessee Williams
While a student at the University of Iowa in the late 1930s, still calling himself Tom Williams, the future playwright wrote a rarely-heard gothic sketch for radio called “The Strangers.” The project was one of several radio dramas he completed during his time in Iowa, a requirement for students to write and produce plays.
The Radio Play “The Strangers”
The play is set in a columned New England manor on the Atlantic coast, a ghostly home squinting under a lighthouse beam that casts a yellowish spell. The title refers to invisible demons that haunt two of the home’s residents, Mr. Brighton and Mrs. Brighton. Early in the drama, Mr. Brighton declares, “We members of the human species are equipped with only five senses. Or six at the very most,” and continues, “The Strangers are creatures that might be perceptible to us if we had seven or eight or maybe nine senses. But as it is, they exist just outside our little sphere of contact with reality and so … what we know of them is very, very slight.”
Themes and Setting
Strand managing editor Andrew Gulli notes that “The play incorporates all the theatrical elements of early radio horror,” adding that it features a storm, howling wind, shadows, a house perched over the sea, flickering candles, mysterious footsteps on the stairs, and spectral beings. He also points out early hints of the themes and devices Williams would return to in his most famous later works: isolation, fear, the shades of gray between imagination and reality, and a house haunted by memory and the private terrors of those who inhabit it.
Publication in The Strand Magazine
This week, the play appears in The Strand Magazine, which has a history of publishing little-known works by literary giants. The magazine’s decision to bring Williams’ early radio drama to readers underscores the play’s historical value and its connection to the broader tradition of radio horror that was popular in the late 1930s.
Key Takeaways
- Tennessee Williams wrote “The Strangers” while a student at the University of Iowa in the late 1930s.
- The play features a New England manor, invisible demons, and early horror motifs that echo his later works.
- Strand Magazine published the play this week, joining a roster that includes Hemingway, Faulkner, and Steinbeck.
The release of “The Strangers” offers readers a rare glimpse into the formative years of a playwright who would later become one of America’s most celebrated voices.
