''This Is (An Entertainment)'' is a play by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

. Similar in plot to that of '' Idiot's Delight'' by Robert E. Sherwood, it focuses on a

hedonistic Hedonism is a family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of egoism, it suggests that peopl ...

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

ess, the wife of a wealthy manufacturer of

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

, who arrives at an elegant resort hotel in the midst of a war-torn

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an country in search of sexual misadventures. She achieves her goal with the help of a handsome blond

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

and his look-alike, a leader of the revolution. Williams described the play as a first draft in need of polishing when the American Conservatory Theater staged it at the Geary Theater in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1976. The cast included Elizabeth Huddle as the countess, Nicholas Cortland in the dual roles of the chauffeur and revolutionary, and Ray Reinhardt as the count. The character of the Countess was based on

Maria Britneva Maria Britneva, Baroness St Just, (2 July 1921 – 15 February 1994) known as Maria St Just, was a Russian-British actress who was a close friend of Tennessee Williams. As co-trustee of the trust which he set up for his sister, she became his l ...

; the title originally included the phrase "For Maria Britneva". Stanley Eichelbaum of the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'' called it "a boisterous

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

-like

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

done in the free-wheeling style of the playwright's earlier '' Camino Real''. Though it is shot through with crude and raunchy humor, it evokes an old-world decadence, like the comic fantasies of

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

." He added, "''This Is'' is anything but a subtle play. Williams has subverted his lyrical gift with cheap and dreary vulgar humor, with painfully witless jokes ... More surprising, perhaps, is the one-dimensional flatness of the characters."''San Francisco Examiner'' review
/ref>

References

1976 plays Plays by Tennessee Williams Plays set in Europe {{1970s-play-stub