--- product_id: 107239088 title: "The Rose Tattoo" price: "£20.09" currency: GBP in_stock: true reviews_count: 9 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/107239088-the-rose-tattoo store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Academy Award-Winning Film Adaptation Tony Award-Winning Play Classic American Drama The Rose Tattoo **Price:** £20.09 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🌹 Own a piece of theatrical history that’s as timeless as your ambition. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Rose Tattoo - **How much does it cost?** £20.09 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/107239088-the-rose-tattoo) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Award-Winning Legacy:** Own a play that earned Tony Awards and inspired an Oscar-winning film performance. - • **Rich Cultural Tapestry:** Dive into a vivid Sicilian immigrant community with layered symbolism and emotional depth. - • **Timeless Literary Masterpiece:** Experience Tennessee Williams' evocative storytelling that shaped American theater. - • **Emotional & Intellectual Depth:** Explore themes of love, loss, and redemption that resonate with today’s thoughtful reader. - • **Collector’s Edition Condition:** Good used condition with free shipping—perfect for your curated bookshelf or gift. ## Overview The Rose Tattoo is a critically acclaimed play by Tennessee Williams, celebrated for its lyrical exploration of grief, love, and cultural identity. Winner of multiple Tony Awards and adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, this used copy in good condition offers a rare chance to engage with a classic American drama that continues to inspire and provoke reflection. ## Description Published as a trade paperback for the first time, with a new introduction by the acclaimed playwright John Patrick Shanley ( Doubt ) and the one-act on which The Rose Tattoo was based. The Rose Tattoo is larger than life―a fable, a Greek tragedy, a comedy, a melodrama―it is a love letter from Tennessee Williams to anyone who has ever been in love or ever will be. Professional widow and dressmaker Serafina delle Rosa has withdrawn from the world, locking away her heart and her sixteen-year-old daughter Rosa. Then one day a man with the sexy body of her late Sicilian husband and the face of a village idiot, Mangiacavallo (Italian for “eat a horse”), stumbles into her life and clumsily unlocks Serafina’s fiery anger, sense of betrayal, pride, wit, passion, and eventually her capacious love. The original production of The Rose Tattoo won Tony Awards for best play and for the stars, Eli Wallach and Maureen Stapleton. Anna Magnani received the Academy Award as Best Actress for the 1955 film version. This edition of The Rose Tattoo has an Introduction by playwright John Patrick Shanley, the author’s original foreword, the one-act The Dog Enchanted by the Divine View that was the germ for the play, and an essay by noted Tennessee Williams scholar Jack Barbera. Review: Five Stars - excellent writing Review: The Rose Tattoo - Tennessee Williams is most often remembered as a lyrical writer of tragedy and lurid violence and as the author of three classic plays: "The Glass Menagerie", "A Streetcar Named Desire", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Williams wrote many other plays in different styles. Among the best of his works is this romance, "The Rose Tattoo", a play which is too-little known today. Cheryl Crawford directed the play when it opened on Broadway in 1951 starring Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach. The play, Stapleton, and Wallach each won Tony Awards. In 1955, Williams wrote the screenplay for the film version of "The Rose Tattoo" which became famous for the Academy Award winning performance of Anna Magnani. Williams wrote an introduction, "The Timeless World of a Play" to "The Rose Tattoo" in which he said: "Whether or not we admit it to ourselves, we are all haunted by a tragic sense of impermanence." He argued that a play gave the opportunity to suspend time by allowing its audience to share in human emotion and change as spectators and so to understand oneself and one another better, if only for a moment. This short, difficult essay is an apt introduction to the play. The three-act play is set around 1950 in an unnamed town on the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Mobile with a large population of Sicilian immigrants. The play tells the story of a middle-aged Sicilian immigrant woman, Serafina Delle Rose who passes from grief and despair to love and sexuality and to a second chance at life. In the opening scenes, Serafina is pregnant and married to a man named Rosario and the couple have a 12-year old daughter, Rosa. Rosario never appears in the play. He is killed almost immediately when he is smuggling contraband for the underworld under a truckload of bananas. Serafina, who works as a seamstress, is shaken to the extent that she loses the baby. She lives solely with the memory of Rosario and of his sexual prowess, symbolized by the rose tattoo on his chest. She comes to idealize her dead husband and fights fiercely to repress compelling evidence of his long-term infidelity. Most of the play is set in a single day three years after Rosario's death. Serafina continues to mourn his passing and loses interest in her friends and in other people. She becomes over-protective of Rosa, who is now an adolescent graduating from high school who has fallen in love with Jack, a young sailor. Serafina meets an uncouth but magnetically attractive young man, Alvaro, who also drives a truck for a living and who reminds her of her late husband. The sexual attraction is immediate. In long scenes between Rosa and Alvaro, Williams develops their relationship. Serafina comes to terms with the frailties of her husband and with love and romance. She is able to love herself and to release her daughter to her own life. The play is lengthy and takes concentration to read. It is full of symbolism, including the rose tattoo, religious icons, a watch, a randy goat, a flamboyant pink shirt and more. The Sicilian immigrant community is vividly drawn with eccentric characters including a herbal doctor and a witch. The play includes some Italian dialogue which is best read over quickly as its meaning is generally clear from the context. I found it helpful to watch the film version between readings of the play to help visualize the action. Magnani's portrayal of Serafina brings the character to life more than any reading could do. Although the film version is bowdlerized, the spirit of Williams' play comes through. John Lahr's biography "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014) devotes substantial space to Williams' writing of "The Rose Tattoo" and to its biographical significance. Williams wrote several early drafts which were critiqued by Elia Kazan, who had already directed several of Williams' plays. Williams wrote and rewrote to adopt Kazan's suggestions into the final version of the play. When he had completed the final draft, Kazan, after hesitation, declined to direct the work, to Williams' great disappointment. In this instance, Williams was right to have faith in the worth of his play, as suggested by the Tony Award. Years later, in 1959, Kazan would back out from directing another Williams comedy, the far less successful play, "Period of Adjustment". Williams and Kazan never worked together again. "The Rose Tattoo" is a beautiful play about disappointment and grief and about the power of love and sexuality to redeem life. In addition to this individual version, the play is available in the first of the two Library of America volumes devoted to the plays of Tennessee Williams. Robin Friedman ## Features - Used Book in Good Condition ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #918,894 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #753 in American Dramas & Plays | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 73 Reviews | ## Images ![The Rose Tattoo - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518flvWdeZL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Stars *by D***Y on January 23, 2016* excellent writing ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Rose Tattoo *by R***N on December 9, 2014* Tennessee Williams is most often remembered as a lyrical writer of tragedy and lurid violence and as the author of three classic plays: "The Glass Menagerie", "A Streetcar Named Desire", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Williams wrote many other plays in different styles. Among the best of his works is this romance, "The Rose Tattoo", a play which is too-little known today. Cheryl Crawford directed the play when it opened on Broadway in 1951 starring Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach. The play, Stapleton, and Wallach each won Tony Awards. In 1955, Williams wrote the screenplay for the film version of "The Rose Tattoo" which became famous for the Academy Award winning performance of Anna Magnani. Williams wrote an introduction, "The Timeless World of a Play" to "The Rose Tattoo" in which he said: "Whether or not we admit it to ourselves, we are all haunted by a tragic sense of impermanence." He argued that a play gave the opportunity to suspend time by allowing its audience to share in human emotion and change as spectators and so to understand oneself and one another better, if only for a moment. This short, difficult essay is an apt introduction to the play. The three-act play is set around 1950 in an unnamed town on the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Mobile with a large population of Sicilian immigrants. The play tells the story of a middle-aged Sicilian immigrant woman, Serafina Delle Rose who passes from grief and despair to love and sexuality and to a second chance at life. In the opening scenes, Serafina is pregnant and married to a man named Rosario and the couple have a 12-year old daughter, Rosa. Rosario never appears in the play. He is killed almost immediately when he is smuggling contraband for the underworld under a truckload of bananas. Serafina, who works as a seamstress, is shaken to the extent that she loses the baby. She lives solely with the memory of Rosario and of his sexual prowess, symbolized by the rose tattoo on his chest. She comes to idealize her dead husband and fights fiercely to repress compelling evidence of his long-term infidelity. Most of the play is set in a single day three years after Rosario's death. Serafina continues to mourn his passing and loses interest in her friends and in other people. She becomes over-protective of Rosa, who is now an adolescent graduating from high school who has fallen in love with Jack, a young sailor. Serafina meets an uncouth but magnetically attractive young man, Alvaro, who also drives a truck for a living and who reminds her of her late husband. The sexual attraction is immediate. In long scenes between Rosa and Alvaro, Williams develops their relationship. Serafina comes to terms with the frailties of her husband and with love and romance. She is able to love herself and to release her daughter to her own life. The play is lengthy and takes concentration to read. It is full of symbolism, including the rose tattoo, religious icons, a watch, a randy goat, a flamboyant pink shirt and more. The Sicilian immigrant community is vividly drawn with eccentric characters including a herbal doctor and a witch. The play includes some Italian dialogue which is best read over quickly as its meaning is generally clear from the context. I found it helpful to watch the film version between readings of the play to help visualize the action. Magnani's portrayal of Serafina brings the character to life more than any reading could do. Although the film version is bowdlerized, the spirit of Williams' play comes through. John Lahr's biography "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" (2014) devotes substantial space to Williams' writing of "The Rose Tattoo" and to its biographical significance. Williams wrote several early drafts which were critiqued by Elia Kazan, who had already directed several of Williams' plays. Williams wrote and rewrote to adopt Kazan's suggestions into the final version of the play. When he had completed the final draft, Kazan, after hesitation, declined to direct the work, to Williams' great disappointment. In this instance, Williams was right to have faith in the worth of his play, as suggested by the Tony Award. Years later, in 1959, Kazan would back out from directing another Williams comedy, the far less successful play, "Period of Adjustment". Williams and Kazan never worked together again. "The Rose Tattoo" is a beautiful play about disappointment and grief and about the power of love and sexuality to redeem life. In addition to this individual version, the play is available in the first of the two Library of America volumes devoted to the plays of Tennessee Williams. Robin Friedman ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Once Famous But Now Among The Lesser Known Titles By Williams *by G***R on January 16, 2009* Opening on Broadway in 1951, THE ROSE TATTOO was a major success for playwright Tennessee Williams, winning Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Scenic Design; it was subsequently filmed in 1955 and again proved a major success, receiving Academy Awards for Best Actress, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography--as well as five other nominations, including Best Picture. Even so, TATTOO is no longer considered among William's "essential" works, and although it has been revived now and then over the years the large cast and complex set makes stage productions few and far between. The story is set in an unspecified town along the Mississippi gulf coast (the characters reference Pass Christian and Biloxi as nearby), the play centers on Serafina Delle Rose, a passionate Sicilian woman, who lives with her husband in an Italian enclave; while her husband drives a truck, she works as a seamstress, and the two have a beautiful daughter named Rosa. But within a few minutes of the play's beginning, Serafina's husband is dead and she, pregnant, miscarries. She begins a downward spiral into a mixture of depression, religious hysteria, and superstition that threatens Rosa's happiness--and ultimately demands that Rosa live her own life in the same despair and isolation. Rosa rebells, but more significantly, Serafina makes the discovery that her late husband was unfaithful to her. She also meets Alvaro Mangiacavallo, who has an unexpected series of similarities to her late husband: he drives a truck, he is of the same body type, and he is of the same passionate nature. These events have the effect of exploding Sarafina out of her depression and back into the mainstream of life. Like most Williams plays, THE ROSE TATTOO is rich in visual and verbal symbolism and allegory; unlike many Williams plays, the play ends on a positive note, with Sarafina ultimately electing to embrace life. But in comparison to such masterworks as GLASS MENAGERIE, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, it seems loosely written, more of a prolonged character study than a cohesive, unified play. Recommended: lesser Tennessee Williams is almost always first rate in comparison with most other authors of his generation; even so, not quite among the first rank of the author's output. GFT, Amazon Reviewer --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/107239088-the-rose-tattoo](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/107239088-the-rose-tattoo) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-05-17*