Williams play sizzles on the big screen
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Starring: Sienna Miller, Jack O’Connell, Colm Meaney, Lisa Palfrey All claws and effect
THE Young Vic’s recent adaptation of the classic 1955 play Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams has been widely acclaimed as one of the best to grace the London stage in the past year.
Now, for this weekend only, Australian audiences have their chance to see what all the fuss was about.
This filmed “capture” of the award-winning production arrives here under the National Theatre Live banner.
If you have not attended one of these events in a cinema before, let me assure you all bases are covered in terms of mirroring the theatre-going experience.
Not only is there an interval programmed, as there always has been in the Williams play, as an added bonus, there is also a collection of brief, but informative interviews with those involved in creating this moderately modernised version of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof.
As a side note, purists in any way concerned by the phrase “moderately modernised” should not see that as a red flag for any worries. If you can handle the odd call taken on a mobile phone and some (relevant) instances of nudity on occasion, all will be fine.
The performances are nothing short of searing, led by a bravely broken display from Sienna Miller as the sexually and socially frustrated Maggie.
The action takes place on a dusky Mississippi evening, when Maggie’s fiery impatience with her emotionally aloof husband Brick (Jack O’Connell, an equally compel- ling presence) is reaching an all-new boiling point.
While this damaged couple lash out at each other, there will be continued unwelcome interruptions from the likes of ailing patriarch Big Daddy (a scene-stealing Colm Meaney), his garishly deluded spouse Big Mama (Lisa Palfrey) and lesser lights from a misshapen family circle.
It’s tough, tenderising stuff from director Benedict Andrews (reaching the same heights as his 2016 rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire with Gillian Anderson).