Cyprus Theatre Organisation

Tennessee Williams

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

From 15 January 2023

Main Stage

Greek

One sultry summer afternoon in the American South, the well-off Pollitt family have gathered to celebrate the sixty-fifth birthday of the dying patriarch, Big Daddy. The elder son, Gooper, and his wife, Mae, plan to lay claim to Big Daddy’s estate, depriving the younger son, Brick, and his wife, Maggie, of their share. Brick and Maggie’s marriage is on the rocks. Brick, a former footballer, is in a state of physical, mental and emotional decline that is worsening day by day. While he attempts to drown his pain in alcohol, the dynamic Maggie fights passionately to escape the misery and darkness. Amidst a fraught atmosphere and intensifying conflict, the edifice of the family begins to crumble.

Cat on a hot tin roof is one of Tennessee Williams’ most famous and popular plays. First published in 1955, it premiered in March of the same year at the Morosco Theater in New York in a production directed by Elia Kazan, winning Williams the Drama Critics Circle Award and a second Pulitzer Prize. A few years later, it was adapted into a successful film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.

Tennessee Williams exposes the harshness of social convention and the pain of battered emotions in a play about lies and hypocrisy, the fragility of family relations, and the impracticality of love.

Director Paris Erotokritou brings his own unique perspective to this rich dramatic material, assisted by an impressive cast and creative team.