In Masks Outrageous and Austere

In Masks Outrageous and Austere
Poster by Noah Scalin for 2012 production with Shirley Knight
Written by	Tennessee Williams
Characters	Babe Foxworth Billy Foxworth Jerry Matron Playboy Mac
Date premiered	April 2012
Place premiered	Culture Project New York City, New York
Original language	English
Subject	corporate greed, death
Genre	Drama, Humor
Setting	Undisclosed remote neighborhood

In Masks Outrageous and Austere is the final, full-length play of Tennessee Williams, written perhaps as early as 1970, but chiefly between 1978 and the fall of 1982. The play’s literary roots for characters and situations can be found in Williams’ 1945 short story "Tent Worms". The play title is taken from a line in Elinor Wylie's poem "Now Let No Charitable Hope."

The play follows what Williams described as a "nightmarish", “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell” story involving the kidnapping of the rich southerner Babe Foxworth by a nefarious corporation.

The play finally received its world premiere in New York City in April 2012, directed by David Schweizer and starring Shirley Knight as Babe.

Babe Foxworth, the world’s richest woman, has been abducted to an undisclosed coastal location. She has been brought there by the Gideons, a secret service-like security team, employed by Kudzu Chem, the clandestine corporation behind her vast wealth. With Babe are Billy Foxworth, her younger gay husband, and Jerry, his even younger male secretary from Harvard. Under a flickering Aurora Borealis, they meet their wacky neighbors from the invisible house next door, the opera singing Matron and her mentally challenged son Playboy who can only say "Coo" and is a compulsive masturbator. Mac, Matron’s gigantic husband who communicates through grunts, and his diminutive interpreter are also part of the surreal world. They play out a twisted game of survivor as the play hurtles towards a violent ending.

The subject of In Masks Outrageous and Austere according to Gore Vidal is death and also corporate greed.Tennessee Williams believed the play had the content of a major work, and in a 1981 Paris Review interview called the play “important,” “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell.”

Williams' three different versions roughly over the years 1978–1982 are cited as becoming, “more nightmarish, going from a basically realistic play with some fantastic overtones to becoming one of Williams’ most outlandish creations.” Masks Outrageous (the play’s last title) is probably the most outrageous version of the play.” “The final version combines bizarre characters, dark humor and exorbitant theatricality.”