Kingdom of Earth

A 1968 play by Tennessee Williams, based on a 1942 short story titled Kingdom of Earth The play premièred on Broadway under the title The Seven Descents of Myrtle, produced by David Merrick and directed by José Quintero. After two previews, it opened on March 27, 1968 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and closed to savage reviews after 29 performances. It was thus largely overlooked for many years, but since the mid 1990s it has been revived a couple of times, often under the original title of Kingdom of Earth, and sometimes to better reviews. In the new millennium it would appear that scholars, critics and theatre practitioners have begun re-evaluating the play to some extent.

First South African production

The first production in South Africa was in 2012 by Abrahamse Meyer Productions in association with Artscape, under the original title of Kingdom of Earth, and was directed by Fred Abrahamse, with Anthea Thompson, Marcel Meyer, and Nicholas Dallas. Set and lighting design by Fred Abrahamse, music by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, costumes by Marcel Meyer.

This production was originally created at the invitation of the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in the USA during 2012, where it played to acclaim, before touring theatres in the US and the finally coming to South Africa.

Artscape and Abrahamse and Meyer Productions were invited for a return engagement of Kingdom of Earth at the 2013 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, playing it in repertory with their 2013 production of Williams's The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. The company began its 2013 US tour with a season at the Provincetown Theatre, before appearing at the festival.

Another season of this production played at the Baxter Flipside Baxter Flipside for three weeks (3 to 22 February 2014).