My thoughts on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

[winston89]

Posted: 12/31/12 at 5:59pm

I saw the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this past Saturday, and while I wanted to write my thoughts about it, I felt that I needed to give this one some time to mentally digest before writing anything.

I honestly felt that the show was well cast. And, I could understand the praise that Johansen has been getting for her stage work. I was blown away by her performance as Maggie. And, Benjamin Walker's performance was amazing as well. He did an amazing job with a rather hard role. His acting choices were near perfect, specially with his conversation with Hind's Big Daddy in act 2. I felt that overall, this was a well cast production and everyone did a good job with their roles.

However, my issues with the play were with the direction. I felt that there was no need whatsoever for there to be a ghost Skipper. I felt that by having him there it serves no point at all and even suggests that the audience is too stupid to understand things. For example, during Brick's conversation with Big Daddy in act 2, Brick says that there was a phone call from Skipper. It is at this point that the Ghost Skipper walks over to the phone and picks it up. It's as if Ashford thought that the audience wouldn't know what a call from Skipper (or a phone call from anyone for that matter) would look like.

I also felt that there was too much underscoring during the big monologues. The music was not needed as the text was poetic enough. And, furthermore, it was too loud at times that it drowned out whatever it was the actor was saying. Now, I am well aware that the show is in previews and that they may fix things. But, my concern is that they will fix the volume of the underscoring but not do what they ought to do, which is ditch it all together.

I did see the 2008 revival, and there was also one directional aspect that Ashford should have drawn form that production. I felt that the 2008 revival did a great job of showing that the play was in real time, With each act starting with the actors in the same spots that they were in when the previous act ended. However, there wasn't much of a sense of that in this production. It was too hard to tell that the show was supposed to be in real time. That for me is something unique about this play and something that sadly didn't shine through.

Overall, it was a great and enjoyable production minus some of the things I mentioned. And, it was something that I suggest people see. Specially if you haven't seen this classic play before.