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Strong performances and star power, can’t save this repetitive and interminable production.Summary
Rating
Ok
Tennessee Williams is broadly regarded as one of the great playwrights of the 20th century. One of his most famous works, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof contains many of the themes Williams returned to time and again throughout his career: troubled families, broken relationships, mental illness and homosexuality. It’s a sharp, sometimes funny, often tragic and always engaging play – although you might not know that from the Almeida’s latest production.
Director Rebecca Frecknall has carved out a name for herself adapting Williams’ plays. Summer and Smoke was well-received in 2018, and last year’s A Streetcar Named Desire was so successful that its run was extended a number of times. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, however, flounders.
The most overwhelming problem is the script. Building on various versions of Williams’ play, taking elements from different iterations, is a strange choice. While there are benefits to looking at how a work has changed in development, there’s a reason the final product is what gets published. This interpretation is devoid of nuance, everything spelled out for the audience as though they’re incapable of reading between the lines. This is an issue with other artistic choices, too, particularly the inclusion of Brick’s dead friend Skipper as a character on stage. He haunts the narrative, yes, but being able to see him adds nothing to the play. This idea has the potential to be interesting, but never really goes anywhere.
There’s a huge amount of repetition, too. Characters repeat phrases or lines for no discernible reason, gradually minimising the impact of whatever it is they have to say and cutting up the flow of dialogue. The idea of ‘talking in circles’ and never truly addressing the matter at hand is a major theme here, but these passages are frustrating to watch and, again, feel too on-the-nose.
The cast themselves are compelling in their roles. Daisy Edgar Jones’ Maggie is particularly interesting for her vocals, switching from fragility to brashness to wheedling within the space of a few sentences. Her over-the-top energy and constant chatter in the first few minutes are compelling to watch, and juxtapose well with Kingsley Ben-Adir’s lethargic Brick, whose words are measured out far more conservatively than his liquor.
Brick here is a far cry from Paul Newman’s acclaimed character, leaning more into the painfully tragic than the romantically troubled. Ben-Adir’s portrayal of his slow descent into drunkenness and the desperation of those around him to ignore or mask his sickness is at times difficult to watch. As he waves his crutch around, something between a potential weapon and a symbol of impotence, Brick as someone who has given up on the game of life is encapsulated perfectly.
There are a few moments that really capture the spark of Williams’ original words: Big Daddy (Lennie James) and Brick’s exchange, “Why don’t you kill yourself?”/“I like to drink” is perfectly timed, and Maggie’s typically catty interactions with Mae (Pearl Chanda) are comically spiky, with an undertone of nastiness that feels absent from the play at large.
Also to be commended is the set, a giant room made of glass blocks that illustrates the lack of privacy in the household and beyond. People try to lock each other out to no avail, and by often preventing characters from completely leaving the stage there’s the sense that nothing can really stay secret. The ceiling being made of the same material creates the sense that the whole thing could collapse at any moment.
Overall, though, the production feels longer than its three hours. Williams’ plays are known for being claustrophobic and oppressive, but this version feels that way for all the wrong reasons. The tension never ramps up enough to evoke real emotion, and while the cast are compelling they’re restricted by odd directorial and dramaturgical choices that leave the show coming across as juvenile and one-dimensional. A Cat that has been thoroughly declawed.
Written by: Tennessee Williams
Directed by: Rebecca Frecknall
Set Design by: Chloe Lamford
Costume Design by: Moi Tran
Lighting Design by: Lee Curran
Sound Design by: Carolyn Downing
Composed by: Angus MacRae
Hat on a Hot Tin Roof plays at Almeida Theatre until 1 February 2025. Further details and tickets available here.
