Cat On a Hot Tin Roof lands on its feet
VCDS production filled with "great good true" performances
By Pauline Holdsworth, Associate Editor
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Arts and Culture
Watching a great performance is like eavesdropping on a world that has let you slip in the back door. The way people act seems real, what they say sounds uncomfortably like the things you have said and are not proud of. Characters take on a life of their own, and you're no longer watching art. You're watching life.
At the beginning of the Victoria College Drama Society's superb performance of Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I was not sure what to think. Maggie the Cat stood on the stage, rambling off everything that was flitting back and forth in her head, while her husband Brick sat up in bed, occasionally giving an insincere one-line reply. Something about the scene made you uncomfortable. All of Maggie's monologues are directed at the audience, creating the strange sensation that she is aware of their presence. Then Maggie's face freezes. She asks Brick why he is looking at her like that - "I don't know how t' describe it but it froze my blood!" There is a shift, and Maggie is instantly and intensely involved in her loaded conversation with her husband. She does not care what
the audience thinks of her. Maggie is too concerned with her husband, whom she loves but who seems to having stopped loving her, somewhere in between the death of his friend, who slept with Maggie despite being in love with Brick, and his recent dissent into alcoholism. The more the characters become entangled, the more difficult it is not to hold your breath.
Maggie was portrayed by a fantastic Sarah King, who managed to capture the character's
blend of fierce independence and desperate devotion to Brick. As a whole, the actors nailed their characters' details, from accent to manner of walking. The characters they become are not nice people. The dialogue makes you wince. At the end of each act, I sat in the Bader Theatre until my heartbeat slowed back down to normal. I heard the people in the row in front of me remark that the play needed two intermissions because it was too intense to take in all at once.
At the beginning of the Victoria College Drama Society's superb performance of Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I was not sure what to think. Maggie the Cat stood on the stage, rambling off everything that was flitting back and forth in her head, while her husband Brick sat up in bed, occasionally giving an insincere one-line reply. Something about the scene made you uncomfortable. All of Maggie's monologues are directed at the audience, creating the strange sensation that she is aware of their presence. Then Maggie's face freezes. She asks Brick why he is looking at her like that - "I don't know how t' describe it but it froze my blood!" There is a shift, and Maggie is instantly and intensely involved in her loaded conversation with her husband. She does not care what
the audience thinks of her. Maggie is too concerned with her husband, whom she loves but who seems to having stopped loving her, somewhere in between the death of his friend, who slept with Maggie despite being in love with Brick, and his recent dissent into alcoholism. The more the characters become entangled, the more difficult it is not to hold your breath.
Maggie was portrayed by a fantastic Sarah King, who managed to capture the character's
blend of fierce independence and desperate devotion to Brick. As a whole, the actors nailed their characters' details, from accent to manner of walking. The characters they become are not nice people. The dialogue makes you wince. At the end of each act, I sat in the Bader Theatre until my heartbeat slowed back down to normal. I heard the people in the row in front of me remark that the play needed two intermissions because it was too intense to take in all at once.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
David King
posted 11/16/09 @ 10:27 AM EST
An intuitive assessment of both the script of the play, and the quality of the production. This was an intense production, shocking at times, having comic relief(thank goodness), but as you having pointed out so believable. (Continued…)
Post a Comment