Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ by Tennessee Williams, was the writer’s personal favourite play. It won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. Now it is presented by the Black Swan State Theatre Company in conjunction with the Queensland Theatre Company, at the Heath Ledger Theatre, in the State Theatre Centre of WA, corner of William and Roe Streets, Northbridge. Curtain up, for this mammoth two and three-quarter hour production is at 7.30 pm. The play runs in the evenings until Saturday 24^th September, with one Sunday matinee on the 25^th.

 
       The curtain rises to show a guest, bed-sitting room in Big Daddy Pollitt’s large, ‘Tara-like’ cotton plantation home in the Deep South. 

       Maggie (Cheree Cassidy), who was brought up in poverty, has now married into the Pollitt family money. The whole family seem to be aware that Brick (Tom O’Sullivan) has not slept with the brash, but absolutely devoted, Maggie - ‘the cat’ – who has become increasingly jealous and frustrated at her inability to sexually win over the handsome Brick. Strikingly attractive, but insecure, she constantly reassesses herself in the mirror.

        The overweight, Big Mama (Carol Burns) considers Brick to be the exemplary male, her ‘only son’. Mama invests in him all her hopes for the family’s future. 

        Unbeknown to Maggie, alcoholic Brick’s isolation is due to his repressed homosexual feelings for his late friend, Skipper – ‘the only good thing ever in his life’ - who suicided, probably because of their confused relationship. 

        With his falsified clean bill of health from the Clinic, Big Mama festooned in bling, gives a heartfelt warm welcome home to Big Daddy (John Stanton), not knowing that she is pathetically dedicated to a man who has loathed her for decades.

        A 65^th birthday party is held for the patriarch, Big Daddy, who is showing immense strength in facing severe health problems. An extremely rich man, yet sadly he cannot buy life. Sookey (Gina Williams) the housekeeper has prepared a special cake.

        Big Mama, despite her constant humiliation, shields her dying husband from Gooper, Mae (Caitlin Beresford-Ord) and their demonic little brats’ (see * below) with their grovelling and mercenary approach. The family GP, Doctor Baugh (Damon Lockwood) decides to disclose the truth to Big Mama, who is shattered by the news.

        Contrasted by their guest, the insensitive and duplicitous Reverend Tooker (Daniel Murphy), whose unsympathetic comments represents the minimum of standard decency, leaves at the time of greatest need.

        Childless Maggie is furious at her husband’s lack of concern that his older brother, corporate lawyer and ‘no-necked monster’ Gooper (Hugh Parker), is attempting to gain control of the family wealth. Throughout the play, Brick and Big Daddy constantly fight to be the family’s controlling influence, with Big Daddy narcissistically seeing himself as a youth, in Brick.

        At times, Brick will pour a drink and switch on the radiogram in an attempt to build a barrier from the discordant family. 

        Unlike most of his relatives, Brick is against ‘mendacity’ (lies) of any kind. So when Big Daddy asks him to have a heart-to heart discussion, a great deal is revealed. Throughout the evening, the whole family, in turn, face their demons. 

*The children Holy Barrett, Bailey Burgess, Max Collins, Alison Deal, Meg Emslie, Daniel Matlock, Charlie Ramsay and Hannah Rutherford rotate.
 

I have seen this play several times in the past, and each time it has been served up as a standard play relying purely upon the story; the result has always been flat and even boring. This is not action-filled or fast-paced; it is a brilliant character study, with everyone having a rich personality. Even the Reverend Tooker is named after the Yiddish Tuchas (an asshole). Here the Director, Kate Cherry, has really researched and captured the depth of the characters, then with some tremendous direction got the whole cast to deliver this to the audience.

When the play started, the Deep South accent that was accurate and well balanced throughout the cast (even the children), took a while to tune in to (dialect coach Melissa Agnew). This was made a little more difficult because Maggie’s ranting and fast paced opening monologue was – correctly - gabbled with frustration. Congratulations to Cheree.
When Big Daddy walked on, I wondered who he was. John Stanton is a thin, slightly stooping man, not the bulky Burl Ives of the cinema. At first I was disappointed, but within seconds his deep voice and powerful delivery let everyone know that he was a self-made man, certainly not to be messed with – another wonderful performance. John now is my ideal Big Daddy.

Carol Burns showed great depth as Big Mamma, struggling for love, soft hearted and yet possibly the real powerhouse of the family. An outstanding performance.

Bruce McKinven, set and costume designer, created a sumptuous house with muted dark grey décor. He also cleverly created the illusion of a large balcony with an extensive view. Bruce had obviously worked very closely with lighting designer David Murray, as the firework display was most effective. During the dark passages in the play, when low angle lighting would normally be employed, Bruce had the light coming through the slots in the wooden flooring to give an eerie effect.

David and sound designer Ben Collins produced one of the most spectacular tropical storms that I have seen in the theatre.

At last I have seen a production of this play that delivered the true feeling and depth of the story. Magnificent.

If you want to see this play and its stunning acting, then rush because the season is almost sold out.