Elizabeth Lail Photo by Maria Baranova

Vanessa Redgrave, during the 1990s, discovered this play and that led to a production in London before it moved on to Houston's Alley Theatre. Not About Nightingales then ran at Circle In the Square Theatre in New York and was nominated for six Tony Awards.

Tennessee Williams learned that inmates were on strike in a Pennsylvania prison and that knowledge was his incentive for writing Nightingales. WTF scenic designer Diggle supplies movable, metal/steel bed frames which actors slide forward or backward as needed. The situation is stark and foreboding. Alex Jainchill's lighting effect very often glares red. Palmer Hefferan blasts sounds and noises when necessary.

Warden Whalen (Chris Messina) treats inmates with a complete lack of compassion. Butch (Brian Geraghty), a leader of men, urges fellow prisoners to strike until the quality of food dramatically improves. Some of the men generate intimate relationships. One individual seems to have a drug problem while all suffer from the torture of inhumane conditions. Then there's Jim (William Jackson Harper), who is more commonly known as Canary, a conflicted, unique soul. Jim is a prisoner who soon will be eligible for parole and he's also the warden's assistant. He might be Whalen's pipeline (canary, as in the chirping bird) to inner goings-on amongst the incarcerated, or he could represent hope and possibility for his peers. Jim shows more than one side of himself as he presents to Whalen or inmates or Eva.

Jim meets Eva (Elizabeth Lail) at the very beginning of the play when she, having run out of money, comes to the prison and is hired to be the warden's secretary. Jim has eyes for this alluring woman and, as the play evolves, she is taken with him as well. Jim's hand, some time into the action, bleeds. Eva tends to the wound gently and carefully as she bandages the cut. Soon thereafter, they are about to kiss when Whalen catches a glimpse of them. During another sequence, Eva and Jim have different responses to John Keats' poem, "Ode to a Nightingale." Jim is disparaging but Eva tries to find positivity within it. Perhaps Tennessee Williams designates Eva, poor to the point of despair when she begs to be employed, as a symbol. She is smart and expedient. For example, she becomes sexually suggestive with the warden if that is required. Later, she genuinely wants to flee with Jim, whom she loves, and imagines a new life with him.

The over-arching plot heightens since the warden knows that Butch is inciting the prisoners. Whalen threatens that he will send them to Klondike, a solitary locale, where he will heat the place till it's 140 degrees. Whalen is aware that this is a rebellious group and he will eliminate struggle even through catastrophic brutality.

Elizabeth Lail's compassionate, knowing personification of Eva demands rapt attention. Chris Messina, as Warden Whalen, is consistently callous and devoid of empathy. William Jackson Harper as Jim/Canary is complex and he successively addresses the challenges of this character. Brian Geraghty's Butch demands that he and his fellow inmates all deserve better conditions, food, education in the trades, and more.

Night About Nightingales can be painful to watch. It is important to tune in fully to appreciate this impactful play, however exhausting and encompassing. The actors, taking O'Hara's strong direction, press forward, as each demanding exchange of words seems pivotal.

This early work of Tennessee Williams, one of our finest playwrights of the twentieth century, examines humanity or lack of it.

Not About Nightingales runs through August 3, 2025, at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Nikos Stage, 1000 Main St., Williamstown MA. For tickets and information, please call 413-458-3253 or visit www.wtfestival.org.