Review: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Imagine being transported to the home of a rich, stereotypical, Mississippi planter family in the years immediately following World War II. Kansas City Repertory Theatre opens its 2019-2020 season with an ambitious production of a difficult, intense, family drama by Tennessee Williams, one of the twentieth century's most renowned talents.

"Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" is one of Williams' best plays. It is told in three acts with two intermissions. "Cat" won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1955 and is said to have been Williams' favorite. Williams was a man of his time whose true self history was hidden behind facades of his own construction. Much of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" is broadly autobiographical and an opportunity for the playwright to unpack some of the heavy baggage he has been dragging around much like "Christmas Carol's" Jacob Marley drags around the chains he "forged in life."

The characters face serious challenges made remote today by societal changes writ large and by the style of what we now expect to see on stage. Seen from 2019, "Cat" is almost Shakespearean and should be viewed through that lens.

The play lives on multiple levels. The most obvious plot line introduces "Big Daddy" (played by the excellent Paul Vincent O'Connor), the patriarch manager of a ten million dollar net worth, and lord over a 28,000 acre estate (the best farm ground this side of the Nile). Sixty-five year old "Big Daddy" has just returned from extensive physical examinations. He has been falsely informed that a suspected cancer diagnosis was wrong.

The entire family has gathered to celebrate the great man's birthday. Except for Big Momma (Merle Moores), they all know that Father is dying. The older son, an attorney (Darren Kennedy), his wife Mae (Amy Attaway), and their five and one half children circle like vultures. They have pre-prepared legal papers to wrest overall control of the estate for themselves.

Act I is a one hour expository monologue. We meet the troubled, almost silent, alcohol-dependent, second son Brick (Nathan Darrow) and his wife Maggie the Cat (Vanessa Severo). Brick is a handsome, former star athlete, and broadcast announcer who has become remote. Maggie is beautiful and relentlessly sexy from old-school, but impoverished Southern aristocracy.

Brick is tortured by the death of his best friend and the fear of his own latent homosexuality. Maggie is willing to accept the relationship whose name dare not be spoken in 1955. Brick fractures his ankle in an attempt to relive athletic glory while attempting to run hurdles in the wee hours, three sheets to the wind.

Tennessee Williams has used the injured ankle as a device to keep the entire three act play in Brick and Maggie's bedroom. It will also become important that this room has previously been the "master bedroom" of the house.

Act I dialogue falls almost entirely on Maggie. This is a tough gig. From moment zero, Maggie must introduce herself, the situation, the greedy older brother's family, and the difficulties in her marriage.

This production is fortunate to have Vanessa Severo to carry this off and keep the audience interested. Is Maggie a gold-digger or does she really love Brick while displaying enduring empathy for him and his parents?

Act II is the main action and confrontation of the piece. We meet Big Daddy. He has come from poverty to be saved by two male partners who hired him to oversee their farm. When they pass, Big Daddy inherits and builds an empire.

Big Daddy is elated that his life will be extended. He can now concentrate on addressing the difficulties in Brick's life, his favored son. Big Daddy makes a good faith effort. He admits that he has wondered about Brick's male friendship, but he assures his son he will not condemn Brick for who he loves. Brick cannot accept the possibility that he is latently homosexual. In a fit of rage, he reveals his Father is terminally ill. Big Daddy is crushed.

Is Brick gay? Has Maggie become a fallen woman in his eyes? Maggie does attempt to repair the marriage, but Brick will have little to do with her. Williams leaves the possibilities open, but his hatred of his own parents, his older brother, his own alcoholism, drug addiction, and homosexuality are elements from Williams' own formative years.

In 1955, Williams is still unsure enough of himself to allow for significant changes from the draft play script under pressure by Director Elia Kazan. The 1958 film version completely excises the subplot that examined Brick's possible homosexuality and turns Maggie into someone less sympathetic.

I won't spill the Act III resolution except to note that much of what worried Tennessee Williams in 1955 is an accepted part of 2019 life. Parts of today's live audience are still not quite sure how to process the 1955 demons leading to nervous and mysterious persistent laughter. This is not a slam on the audience or the performers. Director Lisa Rothe has done a fine job. It is a comment on how far we have come since the 1950s. This is a good thing.

"Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" continues at the Spencer Theatre through September 29. Tickets are available online and by phone at 816-235-2700.

Photos courtesy of Kansas City Repertory theater and Don Ipack

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