Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Don’t believe the posters for this play showing the impossible cool Kingsley Ben-Adir and Daisy Edgar-Jones, even though they do a fine job as warring couple Brick and Maggie. Ignore those pointing at Rebecca Frecknall at the helm and already looking forward to the West End and Broadway transfers, despite her acclaimed work on the Playhouse’s long-running Cabaret. This is all about Lennie James’ performance as Big Daddy, a tour de force demonstration of acting ability that deserves every award going.

It’s hard to remember whether Tennessee Williams was ever out of style but he’s certainly having a moment now in London. Paul Mescal (who rose to fame opposite Edgar-Jones in the BBC series Normal People) returns next year to stand and shout “Stella!” one more time for another run of A Streetcar Named Desire. The Glass Menagerie, meanwhile, has rarely strayed long from the capital, having been here in 2017 fronted by Cherry Jones, in 2022 with Amy Adams and this year at Alexandra Palace with Geraldine Somerville.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is the most theatrical of the three works and, for some, will require all the patience they can muster. The first act sees Maggie doing her best to seduce her husband into bed. Or onto the floor. Or up against the wall. Anything to satisfy her lust. What she deeply desires, though, is not children or even her husband but his inheritance. Brick’s brother Gooper has three kids (and one more on the way) while his very rich father is terminally ill with cancer, something that the rest of his family is hiding from him and his wife Big Mama. Brick, meanwhile, has fallen for the bottle. His best friend Skipper has recently died; their close relationship and his reaction to the death has thrown up rumours of something salacious between them. While Maggie does her best to get him sober or even upright, he pours more and more bourbon into himself, one glug at a time.

Edgar-Jones earnestly shows the uneven nature of Maggie’s relationship through the practically one-sided conversation between the pair. It is no hardship watching her lithe form become more animated as she gets increasingly desperate, storming around a stage practically empty apart from a baby grand being played by a barefoot stranger. The real pleasure, though, is in seeing Ben-Adir’s Brick as he quietly grimaces and rumbles around in reaction to Maggie’s tirade, his face a picture of pain, frustration and sadness.

When James takes to the stage after the interval, the mood flips. Edgar-Jones takes more of a back seat to allow Gooper (Ukweli Roach) and his wife Mae (Pearl Cha
nda) to step into the fray. Frecknal handles the frisson with kid gloves, letting the script rather than the acting reveal the deep chasms caused by deep distrust and an almost genetic avarice. Amid all this, James is supreme as he goes from celebratory when he believes he is cancer-free to becoming more and more angry as he sees the in-fighting around him spoil his party. His TV work on shows like Sky’s Save Me and BBC’s Line Of Duty has shown his talents and range so it shouldn’t be a surprise but the impact nonetheless of seeing him at full blast is something else in person.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof continues at The Almeida until 1 February 2025

Photo credit: Marc Brenner