I finally caught up with the much anticipated, much acclaimed West End revival of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.Not only is she gorgeous naked and clothed but she has a wonderfully expressive smoky voice and easily combines the feisty with the vulnerable that the role requires.
Beautiful and brooding Jack O’Connell is also terrific as her emotionally stunted hubby and often naked too as this production places his, usually off-stage, showering in clear view.
That’s not the only innovation made by director Benedict Andres and his creative team. As is the fashion they’ve dispensed with naturalistic scenery and the gaudy mansion described is evoked by setting the action in a massive, carpeted gold box. This decision has divided opinion but I liked how it brought a sense of both imprisonment and Las Vegas tacky glamour appropriate to updating the production from the 1950s to now, incorporating mobile phones, an ipad and liberal use of contemporary swear words.
The original production and setting dramatised how difficult it was to be open about one’s sexuality in the American Deep South. The update demonstrates effectively how depressingly little has changed.
Colm Meaney is terrific in the third (and fully clothed) lead role of Big Daddy. A terrifying bull of a man scornfully surveying the familial excesses of his 60th birthday party as he grapples with the threat of cancer and trying to understand the pain of his youngest son.
Katy Brittain’s performance of all this really moved me.
What struck me most however was the portrayal of his wife, the secondary character, Big Momma. Usually played as fat as her name suggests on this occasion she’s big breasted trailer trash which makes perfect sense, that’s exactly the kind of woman her vulgar husband would pick. Hobbling around on high platform shows in a ridiculous age-inappropriate mini-skirt she’s the epitome of the phrase “mutton dressed as lamb” and all the more tragic because of it. Her desperation to stay sexually attractive to her husband and her heartbreaking acceptance of his constant cruel jibes suggest an awful life suppressing her true feelings. Even her darling son, pulls away from her motherly kiss and she’s forced into the role of the family’s verbal punch bag and peace-keeping clown.
Katy Brittain’s performance of all this really moved me and I was surprised to discover that she is in fact the understudy, understudies get very little rehearsal compared to the main cast. Yet she stole scene after scene.
Be warned this a brilliant but wordy play, particularly the first act which is virtually a monologue for Maggie as she attempts to get a reaction from her taciturn man. Some of the less theatre savvy audience around me got perceptibly restless but take your seat ready for an emotionally intense, long-haul, emotional rollercoaster and you’ll get the most from playwright Tennessee Williams’ powerful melodrama...
Especially if Katy Brittain is performing!
Audiences at recent Globe productions have enjoyed or had to endure several egocentric productions which have been more about the director's agenda rather than the playwright's so it's great to have the refreshingly steady hand of veteran director Nancy Meckler in the driving seat for Shakespeare's masterpiece, King Lear.