Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Dallas Theater Center Sizzles

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on Broadway in 1955.  It ran for nearly a year and a half and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  A highly successful film version followed three years later.  The production at the DallasTheaterCenter has restored Williams' more candid original script, including the original Third Act.  The plot contains the duplicitous behavior of a southern family tangled in a web of power and greed.

Williams' drama holds up quite well after fifty years.  The lead characters—family patriarch Big Daddy, his wife Big Mama, desultory son Brick and Brick's designing wife Margaret—are all sharply drawn with expressive dialogue.  Richard Hamburger has capably directed the piece.  All the performers enacting the leads give outstanding performances, and Williams' magnificent prose is displayed to good effect.

As Margaret, Lorca Simons was most impressive.  She saturated every line with a fiery intensity that threatened to leap out over the stage and right into the audience.  Miss Simons expertly displayed the quiet strain Margaret was under.  When the character exploded, she was an omnipotent force to behold.  Miss Simons also possessed the proper physical attributes to play the young, suggestive Margaret.

Rick Stear played Brick with equal ferment.  Brick is on-stage through nearly all of Williams' drama, and is the most varied of the lead roles.  In an interpretation that relied heavily on facial expressions and vocal tone, he was able to display all the shadings of his character—from silent bystander to impassioned exploder.

Williams delegated the most comic lines of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to Big Daddy, and Dakin Matthews came through with flying colors.  His physical presence was outlandish, and his delivery of the humor was an outrageous delight.  A monologue that he directed at Big Mama in the Second Act caused the audience to break into spontaneous applause.  Laurie Kennedy also did fine work as Big Mama, especially in the highly charged Third Act.  The supporting cast was notable as well.

The DallasTheaterCenter's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was mounted with exceptionally high production values.  The multi-tier set by Christopher Barreca was richly detailed and possessed character.  Stephen Strawbridge lit the set in an manner that evoked the play's varied moods.  Anita Yavich's costumes were charming and expressive.  Fritz Patton provided admirable music and sound effects.

The only carp about this production is with Williams' script.  Broad comedy is merged with passionate drama.  Although these moments provided copious amounts of hilarity, they seemed to belong in a vaudeville sketch.  Rather than increase our empathy for the characters, they became more two-dimensional.  In this reviewer's opinion, a talented artist such as Mr. Williams could have provided humor that was more in spirit with the rest of this renowned work.

Nevertheless, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is still a magnificent production.  Williams' play combined with exceptional performances and direction puts the current production at the DallasTheaterCenter into the top tier.  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will run until November 5.  For more information, please visit the DallasTheaterCenter website.

 

Photo 1:  Rick Stear, Dakin Matthews, Kati Brazda

Photo 2:  Laurie Kennedy, Dakin Matthews

Photo 3:  Rick Stear, Lorca Simons

Photo Credit:  Loli Kantor

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