Camino Real (play)
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Camino Real is a 1953 play by Tennessee Williams. The title of the play can be pronounced "Ka-mee-no Ray-al" (with a Spanish pronunciation) or "Ka-min-o Reel" (with an American accent) - the title is intentionally ambiguous, that is, whether the play is about the "Royal Road" (the title's meaning in Spanish) or the "Real Road" (that is, the road of reality, the title's bi-lingual meaning combining English and Spanish).
Although this dual meaning exists, Tennessee Williams makes a clear distinction through Sancho's lines that the Camino Real of the play is pronounced "Ka-min-o Reel".
SANCHO: Aw, naw. I know this place. (He produces a crumpled parchment.) Here it is on the chart. Look, it says here: "Continue until you come to the square of a walled town which is the end of the Camino Real and the beginning of the Camino Real. Halt there," it says, "and turn back, Traveler, for the spring of humanity has gone dry in this place..."
The setting is the main plaza of a poor town somewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. The town is surrounded by desert, and transportation to the outside world is sporadic. There is a large cast (40) including many famous literary characters borrowed by Williams that appear in dream sequences. The cast of characters includes Esmeralda (see The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Don Quixote and his partner Sancho, Marguerite "Camille" Gautier (see The Lady of the Camellias), Casanova, Lord Byron, among others. A young American visitor, Kilroy, fulfills some of the functions of a narrator, as does Gutman, manager of the hotel whose terrace occupies part of the stage. The play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic-defying events, including the revival of the gypsy's daughter's virginity and then the loss of it again. A main theme that it deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant. It was first produced on Broadway in 1953 with Eli Wallach in the role of Kilroy; Elia Kazan was the director and Anna Sokolow was assistant to the director. The play enjoyed a revival at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center in 1970, directed by Jules Irving, with roles played by Al Pacino and Jessica Tandy.
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