Synopsis
The Red Devil Battery Sign
$10.99
Published by New Directions
This late Williams play is a nightmare come to life. Populated by Williams's sensitive outsidersin this case, The Woman Downtown, an electroshocked society matron, and King, a dying mariachi playerthe stage world grows more nightmarish with each scene
At first the grotesque vision is apparently all in the head of the abused woman, but at the end of the play, the stage breaks open in a vision of hell that is terrifying and real
The title refers to a red sign that pulses behind the later scenes and represents the dehumanizing and desensitizing forces at work in our world. The stage language is experimental, but the themes, characters, and music of the language are pure Williams