In the following review, Griffin examines Sweet Bird of Youth as a 'forceful' and 'compassionate' drama that highlights Williams' theme of 'time as the enemy.'

Sweet Bird of Youth is Williams's most eloquent expression of his recurrent theme that time is "the enemy." In the face of time's relentless advance, transient youth takes flight, deserting those who trusted it. In one of the finest examples of Williams's plastic theater the theme pervades not only the characterization but also the words and action, as well as the setting and sound. It is a forceful and compassionate drama of one decisive day in the lives of a man and a woman played out against a background of sleazy politics and impending violence in a small Southern town.

The female lead is a Hollywood star who reluctantly retired when her youth and beauty faded. While traveling incognito, she changes...