<P> The Night of the Iguana is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams, based on his 1948 short story . The play premiered on Broadway in 1961 . Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award - winning 1964 film directed by John Huston and starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr . The other is a 2000 Serbo - Croatian production . </P> <P> In 1940s Mexico an ex-minister, the Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, has been locked out of his church after characterizing the Western image of God as a "senile delinquent", during one of his sermons . Shannon is not de-frocked, but he is institutionalized for a "nervous breakdown". Some time after his release, the Rev. Shannon obtains employment as a tour guide for a second - rate travel agency . Shortly before the opening of the play, Shannon is accused of having committed statutory rape of a sixteen - year - old girl, Charlotte Goodall, who is accompanying his current group of tourists . </P> <P> As the curtain rises, Shannon and a group of women arrive at a cheap hotel on the coast of Mexico that had been managed by his friends Fred and Maxine Faulk . The former has recently died, and Maxine Faulk has assumed sole responsibility for managing the establishment . </P>

Where does night of the iguana take place