Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

As the curtains rise to the sight of a single pink stocking lying ominously next to the bed, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof exudes desire; thwarted, misplaced, disgusted.

Tennessee William’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize winning play grapples with masculinity and alcoholism, friendship and marriage, truth and ‘mendacity’, a word which becomes particularly important in the course of the play.

Maggie (Ella Waldman) and Brick (Ed Price) are an unhappily married couple living in a plantation home in Mississippi: cue the fabulous southern accents.

Brick is for the most part monosyllabic and ‘brick-like’, lurching round the stage on a crutch in search of his next drink.

Maggie, on the other hand, is sensual, languishing on stage in a silk slip and copiously reapplying her lipstick.

The play doesn’t duck the difficult questions in their failing relationship: why does Brick drink so much? Why can’t he bring himself to sleep with his wife? Was the friendship between Brick and Skipper clean and good, or something ‘durt -eh’?

Daisy Buzzoni as Big Mamma brought laughs with her deep southern accent and prudish behaviour; Nick Davies’ booming voice well befitted his straight talking,foul mouthed Big Daddy.

The minor roles were also well performed; the croquet playing children seemingly named after a litter of puppies, were an amusing juxtaposition to the warring couples.

This was a production where the acting was worthy of a turn in the Playhouse. Unfortunately, make shift sets let down the side down a little.

Doors creaked, walls shook, and gaffa-taped stairs proved troublesome to the crutch-bearing protagonist and his high-heeled wife.

Similarly, the costumes at times felt out of place: each female character seemed to belong to a different era, and Big Daddy looked a little too much like an English gentleman.

When his ‘cashmere robe’ turns out to be a fleece dressing gown, the audience laughed ironically at the ‘mendacity’ of the situation.

Another issue was the timing of the three acts, which varied from over an hour to just thirty minutes.

Of course, this was a script issue, but having two intervals felt fragmented and left some audience members confused.

That said, the cast didn’t fail to keep the momentum going through over two hours of performance.

All in all, this production is well worth the long walk to LMH. The very high quality of the acting and the brilliant dialogue – witty and moving- make up for the issues of time and setting.

Who knew watching two hours of repressed desire and alcohol soaked conversation could be so entertaining?