A Hot Tin Roof's An Uncomfortable Place To Stay On...
Pros:
interesting characters, poetic if sometimes unreal dialogue- another good play by Williams
Cons:
bad treatment of Big Mama; Brick was unlikeable
The Bottom Line:
Read it if you're a fan of Williams, but A Streetcar Named Desire is a better, more haunting, painful story than this.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Tennessee William's 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, tells the stories of an entire family of characters, each with intersecting or conflicting desires, all resenting each other. The play takes place during one night when the family gathers to celebrate the birthday of the patriarch, Big Daddy. Everyone but Big Daddy knows this will be his last birthday, and that he is dying of cancer.
This, of course, ignites the rivalry for the plantation; while Big Daddy's wife, Big Mama, insists he'll be alright, their son, Gooper, and his wife Mae battle Maggie for the fortune.
Maggie is the beautiful, neglected wife of Brick, a handsome, cool man who has degenerated into a sodden alcoholic. The night before, while drunk, he went back to his high school and broke his leg while jumping hurdles. While Maggie pleads with Brick to love her again, Mae and Gooper's children run screaming around the plantation, urged by their parents to win favour with the dying Big Daddy, performing tricks and dances for him like trained circus animals.
Maggie, who compares her position to a cat on a hot tin roof, wonders what the victory will be even if she hangs on. Mae mocks her for being childless, and though Maggie wants to have a baby- therefore better securing her chance for Big Daddy's money- Brick won't sleep with her. He still holds her responsible for the death of his high school friend, Skipper, and fiercely resents what happened between her and Skipper. Brick is disgusted over what happened with Skipper; whether he was in love with him, or merely laments losing the one pure, non-material thing in his life, the script is coy about confirming or denying Brick and Skipper's true relationship; it remains a point of ambiguity.
Williams presented Maggie very sympathetically, as a strong woman doing her best to hold her shaky position. Although Skipper's death leaves Brick drenched in his own remorse and liquor, I found it hard to have any compassion for him.
The playwright's dialogue, as always, mixes realism with poetry; the emotions, images, and passion his writing can convey in the simplest lines is stunning. However, the treatment of Big Mama, by the characters and the author himself, seemed downright nasty. "Big Mama has dignity at this moment; she almost stops being fat" read the stage directions at one point. Although it's only a line, I thought the message it conveyed- that fat people can't possess real, moving dignity- was pretty disgusting.
