Actors deliver hair-raising performances in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

by Mindy Mateuszczyk

Lyric Arts’ presentation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof delivers audiences a hair-raising drama with much to ponder. Playwright Tennessee Williams created multi-dimensional, filled with admirable qualities and stark flaws. These are the types of roles that actors can sink their teeth into and for the most part, the Lyric Arts cast successfully realizes all those aspects.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof takes place at Big Daddy Pollitt’s (Ron Tolliver) mansion in the Mississippi Delta. Big Daddy is a former field hand and overseer who worked his way to master of plantation. Over the course of three acts, audience members are given a peek inside this family’s life of dysfunction, lies, and secrets. It is Big Daddy’s 65^th birthday and his two sons are present. Brick (Peter Middlecamp) is the youngest and apparently favored son, was a college  football hero turned sportscaster whose career is on the rocks thanks to an alcohol problem. Brick is married to Maggie (Billy Jo Konze), an ambitious young woman who calls herself “Maggie the Cat,” a nickname that lends itself to the title of the play.

Gooper (Joe Hendren), the eldest, is a lawyer married to a woman named Mae (Renee Krapff) with five unruly children Maggie refers to as “no-necked monsters.”

Big Daddy has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is about to die. Although they do not generally get along, Big Daddy’s offspring endeavor to keep that knowledge from him as they jockey for the biggest slice of the inheritance pie.

As the plot unravels, the play’s themes offer something almost any audience member can connect with. Some of the themes explored include: realizing we can’t control what the heart desires even when it isn’t good for us; lies and greed are an inescapable part of life and what happens to the human spirit when your dreams don’t match your reality.

It is no secret that atmosphere plays a role in any theater-goer’s experience. In this particular circumstance, the stadium-like seating at Lyric Arts enhances the experience as the audience peer down into the scene as if a “fly on the wall” looking in one hot night in the south.

Act I begins with Maggie, who enters the bedroom she shares with her estranged husband Brick. Within seconds, she is disrobing. Although she remains in a silk slip, the act immediately sets the tone for a show charged with sexual tension. There are moments when Konze’s southern dialect takes some getting used to and it’s difficult to clearly understand what is being said but the overall picture comes into focus easily enough. During this act, we discover “Maggie the Cat” deceived Brick with his best friend Skipper and he refuses to be intimate with her any longer. Instead, he turns to the bottle.

Brick shows up in the first act with a broken ankle thanks to an unfortunate drunken incident with the hurdles down at the high school track the previous evening.

With searing realism, Middlecamp effectively captures the resentment and disdain of Brick’s attitude toward Maggie and life in general. He spends the majority of the evening swilling drinks which is first annoying but quickly realized as a ploy to extract from the audience the sense of growing impatience and frustration towards Brick that the other characters in the play are feeling. Middlecamp further spends the evening getting battered and bruised as he tumbles and falls during confrontations with others.

Another shining moment during this act is the first appearance of Big Momma. At the start, Wigmore’s portrayal is reminiscent of a southern Edith Bunker. She infuses the role with boundless energy and charm.

Act Two has the audience peering into a long conversation between Brick and Big Daddy. There are moments of real brilliance as Tolliver and Middlecamp interact, each doing their part to elevate the tension and reveal more details of this family’s ever-growing list of dysfunction.

The final act is a delight as Wigmore brings to bear all the energy of Big Momma. She transforms her character as she asserts herself in protection of Big Daddy, the husband she loves and adores, even when he is less than pleasant towards her.

Hendren and Krapff nail Gooper and Mae’s motivations as they attempt to assert themselves as the appropriate overseers of Big Daddy’s fortune.

Throughout the evening Cat on a Hot Tin Roof explores many of the seedier sides of life, closet homosexuality, alcoholism, greed and lies. Written in the 1950’s, these themes were considered racy and controversial at the time and can make the play feel a bit dated but with its universal themes that still connect with audiences today, this Tennessee Williams gem is a wonderful way to take a step back in time and revel in a true classic piece of literature turned theatrical history.

As a drama filled with controversies of its era, this production is a diversion from the more traditional fare presented at Lyric Arts. It is a bold attempt that deserves recognition, both for the playhouse administration and the actors and creative team that brings it to fruition. If you have the desire to see an engrossing drama, this production will definitely scratch that itch.

A little Bit About Mindy:
Mindy Mateuszczyk is a journalist with the Minnesota Sun Press Newspapers and an active member of the metro area community theater world for the past five years. Previously, Mateuszczyk has lived and worked in the Boston suburbs, southern California, Salt Lake City and upstate New York. She has studied film, photography, theater, public relations, communications and journalism.