FOR the second time in less than a year the Royal Exchange has dipped into the tense, claustrophobic world of master playwright Tennessee Williams. And for the second time, following the success of The Glass Menagerie, this has led to a compelling production which in spite of its three-hour duration will keep you enthralled throughout.
Widely recognised as one of Williams' great works, in setting the play today and in using a predominantly black cast, director Roy Alexander Weise, has subtly changed the dynamics of the production.
At its heart this is a family drama. Big Daddy, through hard work and a ruthless streak, is a self made millionaire controlling the largest plantation in the area. As he celebrates his 65th birthday his dysfunctional family bicker, snipe and scheme, hoping to gain control of his empire.
For he's not been well. The results of tests have been hidden from him but the cancer he fears will prove to be one thing he cannot bludgeon to one side.
Elder son Gooper and his appalling wife Mae are trying to ingratiate themselves into favour to get control of the family fortune.
Younger son Brick, a star football player forced into the broadcast booth after injury wrecked his career has hit the bottle. He's married to the self-styled Maggie the Cat, who is scheming, sensuous and blocked out of his affections.
As the birthday party goes on the family tensions and inner struggles come to the surface allowing a first rate cast to really display their acting chops.
Read Patrick Robinson on making Exchange debut: 'Big Daddy cannot just be a shouty dad'
For me the most memorable performance came from Bayo Gbadamosi as Brick. Having broken his ankle after a late night drunken attempt to recreate his days as a college track star, he's reduced to hobbling around, crutch in one hand, bottle in the other.
It would be easy for the audience just to dismiss him as 'the family drunk' but Gbadamosi creates a vulnerable, almost childlike figure wracked by guilt following the death his best friend and the hidden feelings he had for him.
For all his faults, Brick is really the only member of his family that Big Daddy really loves and the extended scene between the two as long suppressed truths finally come out is one of the most memorable parts of the production.
As Big Daddy, Patrick Robinson manages to be both commanding and vulnerable. There's no need for major histrionics to display the total control this man has had over everything in his life; a simple gesture here and withering put down there are all that is needed. But beneath the carefully crafted hard shell, the former Casualty star also reveals the scared, very human, character that lies underneath.
Given that the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Kathleen Turner, Scarlett Johansson and Sienna Miller have all played the role of Maggie in the past, relative newcomer Ntombizodwa Ndlovu has got a fairly major challenge on her hands. But she pulls it off with aplomb.
She really captures the many sides of Maggie, someone who has come from a world of poverty into great riches and will do everything she can to keep it that way. She's playful, scheming, shameless and ultimately lonely and we get to see all those sides of her.
Other stand out performances come from Jacqui Dubois as Big Mama, the matriarch who has played the game dealing with her often cruel husband for 40 years. At one point the cast break out into an acapella gospel song - her lead vocal on that is worth the ticket alone.
And Daniel Ward's Gooper and Danielle Henry as his wife Mae are fairly obnoxious without becoming caricatures. Mae is particularly bitchy and has that Southern way of disguising every insult behind a smile. They also get to play their five children - the 'no neck monsters' as Maggie describes them - which is a fun twist.
All the action is set in Maggie and Brick's bedroom in the family mansion. At times the room slowly rotates, the only prop an unmade bed. Overhead what is effectively a large mobile serves as both a props store and as an elaborate clock, constantly moving as the action unfolds.
How nice too, to see a production set in the South (USA not Essex!) where the accents are spot on and never falter.
Along with all the tension, bitterness and despair the production also has some wonderfully comic moments. Don't be put off by the length or the fact that it is undeniably a 'wordy' play. This production will keep you hooked throughout. You won't love every character but you will definitely connect with them.
It's a fresh, compelling and, at times, a surprisingly moving take on one of the great 20th century plays.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof runs until Saturday, April 29. Details from www.royalexchange.co.uk.
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