Thursday, January 08, 2026

Play review - "A Loss of Roses" (1960) by William Inge

 Read this because Warren Beatty debuted. It's a simple story - maybe too simple for a play though it would work for a film. An older actress moves in with a woman and her son, who is a young man. The mother apparently is a bit hot for the sun though that's not clear. The woman is a stock type written by gay male playwrights of this era - ageing beauty who's been around the block, emotionally unstable. The son roots her, then won't marry her so she tries to kill herself - this is all rushed through.

It would work as a star vehicle for the young man and the actress. The mother part doesn't quite click. This version I read is different from what was on Broadway. 

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