Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

By Tennessee Williams

Synopsis:

"What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? I wish I knew. Just staying on it I guess, as long as she can”.

Thus muses Maggie, Brick’s feisty but frustrated wife, in the first act of Tennessee Williams’ searing classic. Battling her husband’s drunkenness and debauchery and the target of her sister-in-law’s cruel and calculated barbs, Maggie desperately balances family loyalties with personal needs and desires as she clings to her “roof”.

Meanwhile, “Big Daddy” Pollitt, the richest cotton planter in the Mississippi Delta, is celebrating his 65th birthday. His two sons have returned home for the occasion: Gooper with his wife Mae and five children, and Brick with Maggie. A corrosive cocktail of greed, lies, jealousy and repressed sexuality is eating away at the heart of the Pollitt clan. Unbeknownst to Big Daddy a similar cancer is gnawing away at his guts. During the hot summer evening, the veneer of happy family life and Southern gentility is shattered, exposing personal daemons, unpalatable truths and fuelling filial rivalry to boiling point.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a masterly portrayal of family tensions and individuals trapped in prisons of their own making. Filmed in 1958 and starring Paul Newman as Brick and Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie, Next Stage’s compelling production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has Richard Matthews and Rosie Magee playing these iconic roles, with Dave Dunn as Big Daddy.

This is Tennessee Williams at his very best: book early!

Pre-show suppers available Thursday-Saturday, please see the menu below. Tickets are £15 and bookable from Next Stage Box Office 01225 428600.

Presented in association with

7 Chapel Row, Queen Square, Bath BA1 1HN
Tel: 01225 471100

Dates: Tuesday 6th - Saturday 10th July 2010 @7.30pm, plus Saturday matinee @2.30pm

Location: The Mission Theatre, Bath

Tickets: £10 (£8 Concessions)

Box Office: 01225 428600 / (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 01225 463362 / http://www.bathfestivals.org.uk

Supper menu:

Terrine of turkey and bacon with gooseberry comfit
or
Savoury feta cheesecake
or
Banana and rum caramel cream tart
or
Baked peaches in Marsala with blueberries
or
Teas and coffees to finish.

Director/s | Cast:

Ann Garner

Director

Richard Matthews

Brick

Rosie Magee

Maggie

Dave Dunn

Big Daddy

Marion Wood

Big Mama

Steve Leanaghan

Gooper

Claire Rumball

Mae

Michael Roy

Doctor Baugh

Mark Sanders

Reverend Tooker

Poppy Harrison

Dixie

Flora Stone

Trixie

Max Aiken

Buster

Miles Aiken

Sonny

Holly Bodimeade

Polly

Review/s of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof:

Review 1: Review

As artistic director Ann Garner says, this Tennessee Williams play probably isn't seen very often simply because of all the youngsters needed to play the parts of unruly children. But then, of course, Next Stage has a whole bunch of talented youngsters in its youth group all itching to go out on stage. While they get their five minutes of fame as the delightfully objectionable brats, it is Richard…click here to read the whole review.

By Christopher Hansford, Bath Chronicle

Review 2: Venue review

Secrets, lies, unspoken frustration, unrequited desire and domestic melodrama: such are the potent issues that Tennessee Williams' best-known play focuses on, a volatile recipe made all the more compelling by the real-time pace and 1950s American Deep South setting. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the story of a family in emotional, physical and financial crisis, with the intense, challenging relationship…click here to read the whole review.

By Melissa Blease, Venue Magazine

Show and rehearsal photographs: