Cat of a Hot Tin Roof
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by David Green
On a steamy night in Mississippi, a family gathers to celebrate the birthday of cotton plantation owner “Big Daddy” Pollitt. But the scorching heat is almost as oppressive as the lies that are told. His son, Brick, and daughter-in-law, Maggie, dance around the secrets and sexual tensions that threaten to destroy their marriage. With the future of the family at stake, which version of the truth will win out?
Tennessee Williams’ great play was made into a memorable film in 1958, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.
Performed Spring 2019
Cast
Maggie – Cathy Edwards-Gill
Brick – Darren France
Big Daddy – Tim Hall
Big Mamma – Yves Green
Gooper – Roy Goodwin
Mae – Annie McClarnon
Rev Tooker – Bob Good
Dr Baugh – Alan Huckle
Polly – Eden Beaver
Trixie – Bronte Beaver
“it was refreshing to see it unapologetically attempted with such clarity and enthusiasm.”
— David Vass
Behind the Scenes
Review - David Vass
Open Space’s fearless exploration of classic theatre saw them tackling what was reportedly Tennessee William’s favourite play - a compelling, if relentlessly grim, examination of a family in crisis. It is perhaps best known through the neutered 50s film adaptation, but this was William’s unexpurgated 70s rewrite that laid bare the homophobia, prejudice, and greed of the deep South.
Cathy Edwards-Gill’s opening monologue was a prodigious feat in itself, leaving Darren France little to do but react to the tsunami of words hurled at him with unremitting intensity.
His nicely understated performance came into its own later in the play, as did the welcome return of Yves Green to an Open Space production with an unusually svelte and poignantly tragic Big Mama. The strongest performance, however, came from Tim Hall, who gets better every time I see him. An actor of great versatility (he was just as good as an introverted English schoolmaster in last year’s Browning Version), he managed to make bombastic, misogynistic Big Daddy oddly sympathetic.
Neither period nor contemporary drama, this overwrought play is a tough nut to crack, but it was refreshing to see it unapologetically attempted with such clarity and enthusiasm.