Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Helen Houses
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 19:38

What’s that smell in this room? Didn’t you notice it, Brick? Didn’t you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?”
-Big Daddy Pollitt, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, must have raised a few well-plucked eyebrows when it premiered in 1955. Those who are familiar only with the excellent, but bowdlerized, film version with Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives may not realize just how many punches Williams didn’t pull in the original script.
Closeted male homosexuality, frustrated female heterosexuality, greed, alcoholism, emotional cruelty and of course, the above-mentioned “mendacity” are all on view, framed in classic Williams drenched-in-Southern-honey prose.

It always comes as a surprise to re-discover that, although we may find our Tenn a tad florid for modern tastes, his insight into human character-and impeccable stagecraft-hold up beautifully in a well-done modern production.