Loft success with classic Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke
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- 4 min read
Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams at The Loft Theatre, Leamington Spa from 10 – 20 June 2026. Directed by Sue Moore.
Review by Ann Evans
Summer and Smoke is set in the deep south of the Mississippi around the turn of the 20th century up to around 1916. Basically, it’s a love story – one which certainly doesn’t run smoothly. Alma Winemiller (Leonie Slater) is the puritanical daughter of the gruff and bad-tempered Reverend Winemiller; Alma has been in love with her neighbour, John Buchanan jnr (Zander Gibney) since they were both kids. John is the son of Dr John Buchanan Snr (Mark Crossley).
Alma has grown up with high morals and comes across as a rather prudish and frigid young woman, as a teenager, she’s giggly and nervous, and it’s clear she has a serious crush on John. He, however, is the total opposite. While he’s training as a doctor to follow in his highly respected father’s footsteps, he prefers wine, women and song. He drinks far too much, has a string of women at his beck and call, and all under the nose of the young neighbour who is secretly in love with him. This does nothing for her mental and physical health.
While that is the premise of the play, the brilliance of this story, I feel, is in the character portrayal. There really isn’t one ‘ordinary’ character to be found in this Mississippi township known as Glorious Hill. Excellent acting by every one of this 7-person cast, who actually play 14 different characters. Stars of the show are the two leading characters, Alma and John. Alma in particular has an immense amount of dialogue to deliver, and every word comes out in that slow southern Mississippi drawl, perfectly delivered and easy on the ear – although she does talk a lot, an awful lot, and for John, you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him as she argues (nags) him into submission, shooting herself in the foot in the process. Excellent performance by Leonie Slater as Alma, and I wish her well in getting through ten successive performances of this production with this monumental amount of dialogue to deliver every night!
As a Jack-the-lad type of young man, John Buchanan jnr played excellently by Zander Gibney, wants primarily to enjoy his life. He drinks, he gambles, he loves the ladies, yet there is that special relationship between him and Alma, deep emotions that neither can define or understand, and there are some very intense moments in this play. Glancing at the audience in one particular scene, they were riveted and you could have heard a pin drop.
Throughout this play, which I believe has 12 scene transitions, we are treated to some wonderful background Blues music as if played by a small-town band somewhere off in the distance. One scene however has Sage Woore in one of her roles as Rosa Gonzales singing live in a moody nightclub scene. Sage Woore also plays the flighty Nellie Ewell and the nervous Rosemary. Excellent performance by Sage Woore too.
Fabulous characterisation by Tracey James who plays Alma’s mother, Mrs Winemiller and a neighbour Mrs Bassett. Firstly, Mrs Winemiller, who I have to say, is wonderful! She’s clearly the long-suffering wife of her ill-tempered husband, the Reverend (Rod Wilkinson – who also plays Gonzales and Vernon). And it’s as if Mrs Winemiller has slipped back into childhood, totally irresponsible for anything going on, interested only in ice-cream and big hats (lifted from shops). Mrs Winemiller however is far from the simpleton she makes herself out to be and is a lot more knowing than they all think. As her other character, Mrs Bassett – she’s the nosy, bringer of bad tidings type of neighbour that you don’t want knocking at your door. And she does it brilliantly.
Mark Crossley plays Dr John Buchanan Snr. Good acting as always by Mark, who wants the best for his son, John, but feels he’s fighting a losing battle. The seventh member of this excellent cast is Luca Catena who plays Archie Kramer, Dusty and Roger Doremus.
As always great support from the backstage team, and excellent direction by Sue Moore. With the drama set in the early 1900s, the costumes seem very authentic for that era, and there’s a lot to enjoy about this production.
The writer Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) wrote Summer and Smoke in 1948 and it premiered at the Magic Box Theatre in New York City in March 1948 under the direction of Margo Jones. Williams then continued working on the play through to the 1950s. Summer and Smoke was a winner in the 2019 Olivia Awards for the Best Revival of a Play.
For tickets visit www.lofttheatrecompany.com, email boxoffice@lofttheatrecompany.com or call 01926 830 680 (answer phone service). Tickets priced from £17 to £20. Free tickets for theatregoers aged 16–25 are available by advance email booking or on the night from the Box Office (proof of age required).
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