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| Brick (Rob August) tries to ignore his frustrated wife, Maggie (Allison F. Rich). |
San Jose Stage Company proves the genius of
Tennessee Williams with its brilliant production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
This interplay of family dysfunction shines thanks
to the direction of Lee Sankowich and a pitch-perfect cast.
The action takes place in the gallery of a
Mississippi Delta plantation home one summer evening in the early 1950s.
As it opens, the title character, Maggie “the cat” (Allison
F. Rich), is expressing her frustration with her husband, Brick (Rob August).
He drinks too much and no longer sleeps with her.
A former star football player whose career ended several
years ago, he injured his ankle while drunkenly jumping hurdles at the high
school the night before. Hence he’s using a crutch.
This opening scene belongs to Maggie. Rich is
mesmerizing as Maggie primps before a
mirror and complains not only about Brick but also about his five rambunctious
nieces and nephews, the “no-neck monsters.”
They’re the children of Brick’s older brother,
Gooper (Will Springhorn Jr.), and his pregnant wife, Mae (Tanya Marie).
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| Big Daddy (Randall King) has a serious talk with his son, Brick. |
Just as Maggie owned one scene, Brick’s father, Big
Daddy (Randall King), the family patriarch, owns another as he berates Brick
for excessive drinking and touches on a sore subject: Brick’s relationship with
his late friend, Skipper.
He implies that it was homosexual and OK with him,
but Brick vehemently denies any such inference.
In both scenes, Brick’s crutch is taken from him,
prompting pleas of “give me my crutch,” just as he sometimes pleads for another
drink. Hence the crutch is the symbol of Brick’s leaning on alcohol to escape
reality.
Big Daddy and his wife of 40-some years, Big Mama
(Judith Miller), are also celebrating the good news that he’s suffering from a
spastic colon, not cancer. He feels as if he’s been given a new lease on life
and sees no need to write a will just now.
However, the rest of the family knows the truth. Big
Daddy has cancer that has spread throughout his body and will soon kill him.
Hence Gooper and Mae try to curry his favor and gain control of his
considerable estate after his death.
Despite Brick’s many problems, he recognizes one
theme in his family: mendacity, the untruthfulness used by everyone for one
reason for another.
It’s all quite intense thanks to the quality of
Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play and the quality of the acting and
direction.
Aiding in the process are the set by Giulio Cesare
Perrone, lighting by Michael Johnson, costumes by Ashley Garlick and sound by
Steve Schoenbeck.
Running about two and a half hours with one
intermission, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” will continue through March 3 at The
Stage, 490 S. First St., San Jose.
Photos from San Jose Stage Company
