In ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ a steamy cauldron of hypocrisy, avarice, repressed sexuality and secret passions threatens to boil over and rip apart the Pollit family - a wealthy but dysfunctional Southern dynasty ruled over by patriarch ‘Big Daddy’. The play opens with the family members gathering at the Pollit’s Mississippi mansion on a summer’s evening to celebrate Big Daddy’s 65th birthday. Big Daddy (unaware that he is dying of cancer) is troubled by the strained and childless marriage of his favourite son Brick - a former football hero - and his beautiful yet sexually frustrated wife Maggie ‘the cat’ and his other son Gooper whose wife Mae is heavily pregnant with another in their line of little “no-neck monsters”. A troubled Brick spends his days in a constant state of drunkeness, and the night previously (whilst under the influence)had broken his leg whilst attempting to jump hurdles at the school track. A sexually frustrated Maggie unsuccessfully tries to coax Brick away from the bottle, alternately chiding him for his behaviour then attempting to seduce him. Maggie taunts Brick about the obsession he appears to have developed for his deceased best friend Skipper; since Skipper’s death Brick has steadfastly refused to sleep with Maggie. Apart from re-claiming her conjugal rights and fulfilling her physical needs, Maggie has an ulterior motive in bedding Brick - she needs to produce an heir for the Pollit dynasty, and there is no time to waste. Big Daddy is dying and has not yet made a will; Maggie is terrified at the prospect of being poor and is determined to secure a place for Brick and herself in his father’s will. A major obstacle in her path is Gooper and Mae and their significant brood of children. Brick has withdrawn selfishly into his own little world of depression and guilt and is too numbed with Liquor to care about anyone or anything - especially Maggie. The only thing to elicit emotion or conversation from Brick is the topic of Skipper. Although Brick maintains his and Skipper’s best friend status, Maggie suspects that their relationship was something more. She had confronted Skipper (before his death) about his attraction to her husband, and as if to prove his heterosexuality, he slept with her. Both of them however, were making love to one another in lieu of Brick. After his intimate liason with Maggie Skipper began to self-destruct in a sea of liqour, and it was not long before Brick hit the bottle too.

As Maggie and Brick argue, more of the family arrive at the plantation for the celebrations. Everybody but Big Daddy and Big Mamma knows that Big Daddy is dying; he and his wife are under the impression that he just has a spastic colon - tonight the Pollit sons will tell their mother the truth. After a round of ‘Happy Birthday’ Big Daddy and Big Mamma are left alone, whereupon a disgruntled Big Daddy rounds cruelly on Big Mamma (he has become frustrated since she took charge of the estate when he fell ill) making it clear to her that he is going to take everything back and return her to her place. For her part, Big Mamma insists that she does love Big Daddy, even if he doesn’t believe her. As Big Mamma leaves the room, Big Daddy summons Brick in an effort to get to the bottom of his son’s problems and to make him open up. Although Brick isn’t interested in talking (or willing to speak) Big Daddy persists in his efforts to communicate with his estranged son. He tells Brick about his travels in Europe, how awful poverty is, and how he has worked hard to get to the financial position he is in now. He lets him know (in no uncertain terms) that now he is free of cancer he is going to enjoy his wealth to the full and may even take on a mistress as Big Mamma never interested him. Brick, on the other hand does interest him, and he tries to force a confession from his son as to why he drinks so heavily - eventually stealing his crutch and knocking him to the ground.

Eventually Big Daddy hits upon the truth - all Brick’s problems centre around Skipper.On the night that Skipper and Maggie slept together Skipper had called Brick to confess his true feelings for him.Alarmed and refusing to accept any notion of homosexuality in his life, Brick hangs up on him.It is his disgust with himself and his world which has driven him to the bottle. Enraged that he has finally been made to confront the truth by his father, Brick rounds on Big Daddy and tells him that he has cancer.As the old man leaves distressed, the rest of the family enter the room. Now it is Big Mamma’s turn to be told the truth, and although she initially refuses to accept the facts she soon pulls herself together, informing Maggie that Brick will have to clean up his act in order to take over the family business.An alarmed Mae and Gooper have other plans , and produce a set of legal papers designed to establish a favourable will in their interests, citing Brick’s alcoholism and Maggie’s barreness as obstacles to the estate’s future well-being. Using this treacherous act as her cue, Maggie grandly announces that she is in fact with child, much to Big Mamma’s delight and her in-laws scorn.As Big Mamma leaves to tell Big Daddy the joyous news, Brick and Maggie are left alone .Brick declares that it was a very bold move of Maggie to make such a lie; she however has every intention of turning the lie into the truth - removing Brick’s liquor and refusing to supply him with any more until he consents to sleep with her.Big Mamma momentarily re-enters, searching for the morphine the doctor has left for Big Daddy.As she exits the play ends with Maggie telling Brick that she loves him and he wondering (aloud) “wouldn’t it be funny if that were true?”









The theme of ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ is that of ‘mendacity’ - a word which Brick uses to describe his disgust with the atmosphere of lies he finds himself caught up in and the deplorable morals of an aging and decaying Southern society.With one exception all the Pollit family lie to Big Daddy; the doctor also lies and Big Daddy himself lies to Big Mamma. The play also alludes to the presence of homosexuality in Southern society whilst examining the complicated rules of social etiquette in this culture.Tennesse Williams himself was unsure about the true nature of Brick’s feelings for Skipper and subsequently developed different versions of the play over the passage of many years.Two versions of ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ went on to be performed in public - one influenced by the legendary Elia Kazan who directed the original on Broadway and another which was performed for the first time on the London stage. Elia Kazan's original Broadway production of 1955 starred Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie and Ben Gazzara as Brick, Burl Ives as Big Daddy, Mildred Dunnock as Big Mamma, Pat Hingle as Gooper and Madeleine Sherwood as Mae.Barbara Bel Geddes was nominated for a Tony for her portrayal of Maggie.The Cast also included the Southern blues duo of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.A young Cliff Robertson was Gazzara’s understudy, and when Gazzara eventually left the play, his role was assumed by Jack Lord.In 1974 a revival of the play featured Elizabeth Ashley, Keir Dullea, Fred Gwynne, Kate Reid, and Charles Siebert. Ashley was nominated for a Tony Award. Also in the 1970‘s John Carradine and Mercedes McCambridge toured in a road company production as Big Daddy and Big Mama, respectively. For this production, Williams restored much of the text which he had removed from the original production at the insistence of Elia Kazan. Elizabeth Ashley reported that Williams had also allowed the actors to examine his original notes and various drafts of the script to make their own additions to the dialogue. In 1988 London’s National theatre staged the play, directed by Howard Davies, and starring Ian Charleson, Lindsay Duncan, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, and Eric Porter.’Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ was also adapted twice for television; in 1976 a sexually-explicit version of was made for television starring real-life husband and wife Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood in the lead roles, then in 1984 Pay-cable station Showtime and PBS’s American Playhouse produced a version starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Lange, Rip Torn and Kim Stanley. The latest incarnation of the play debuts at the Novello Theatre in London’s West End on November 21st this year, following a sold-out run on Broadway.It stars two-time Tony winner James Earl Jones alongside Tony award winner Phylicia Rashad and is Directed by Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actor, director and choreographer Debbie Allen. The stage legend lives on!

Tennesse Williams script contains some steamy dialogue; here is the electric interchange between Maggie and Brick as she desperately attempts to seduce him before Big Daddy's party:

Brick: Big Daddy! Now what makes him so big? His big heart? His big belly? Or his big money?

Maggie: The heat has made you cross.

Brick: Give me my crutch.

Maggie: Why don't you put on your nice silk pajamas, honey, and come on down to the party? There's a lovely cool breeze.

Brick: (detached) Give me my crutch, Maggie.

Maggie: Lean on me baby (he turns and stiffly ignores her) (She warmly hugs him from behind) You've got a nice smell about you. Is your bath water cool?

Brick: No.

Maggie: I know somethin' that would make you feel cool and fresh. Alcohol rub. Cologne.

Brick: No thanks. We'd smell alike. Like a couple of cats in the heat.

Maggie: It's cool on the lawn.

Brick: I'm not goin' down there, Maggie, not for you and not for Big Daddy.

Maggie: At least you can give him his present that I remembered to buy for you for his birthday. Do you think you could write a few words on this card?

Brick: You write somethin' Maggie.

Maggie: It's got to be your handwritin'. It's your present. It's got to be your handwritin'.

Brick: I didn't get him a present.

Maggie: Well, what's the difference!

Brick: Then if there's no difference, you write the card.

Maggie: And have him know you didn't remember his birthday?

Brick: I didn't remember.

Maggie: Well, you don't have to prove it to him. Just-just write 'Love, Brick' for heaven's sakes.

Brick: NO!

Maggie: You've got to.

Brick: I don't have to do anything I don't want to! Now you keep forgettin' the conditions on which I agreed to stay on livin' with you.

Maggie: I'm not living with you. We occupy the same cage, that's all. You know, that's the first time you've raised your voice in a long time. Crack in the stone wall? I think that's a fine sign. Mighty fine.

Brick: Now what did you do that for, Maggie?

Maggie: To give us a little privacy for a while.

Brick: Don't make a fool of yourself, Maggie.

Maggie: I don't mind makin' a fool of myself over you.

Brick: Well I mind. I feel embarrassed for you.
Maggie: Feel embarrassed! But I can't live on this way.

Brick: Now you agreed to accept that condition.

Maggie: I know I did, but I can't, I can't. (She fiercely hugs him.)

Brick: Let go, Maggie. (She doesn't respond and he pulls her away.) Now let go, Maggie.

In 1958 MGM made the big screen version of ‘Cat On A hot Tin Roof’ casting Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in the lead roles of Maggie and Brick with Burl Ives as Big Daddy and Judith Anderson as Big Mamma.The repulsive Gooper and Mae Pollit were played by Jack Carson and Madeleine Sherwood.Both Ives and Sherwood had played the roles on Broadway.Because of strict production codes employed in the late 1950’s -specifically the Hays Code - all references in the film to Homosexuality and swearing were deleted, watered down or obscured from the shocking, original play and the film’s ending was considerably altered too from the stage original.Just over a week into the shooting of ‘Cat’ Elizabeth Taylor’s husband Mike Todd was tragically killed in an airplane crash; although devastated she ended up turning in a bravo performance and received the second of four consecutive ‘Best Actress’ nominations for her role as Maggie ‘the cat’. In fact, despite having its script heavily doctored, the movie went on to earn universal acclaim and featured in the top ten box office hits for 1958.The movie also received six major Oscar nominations; along with Taylor, Paul Newman was nominated for his first ‘Best Actor’ Oscar whilst Burl Ives was nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’; curiously he won, but for his role in the epic Western ‘The Big Country’.It has been reported that MGM executives entered Ives’ name in the wrong category during the Academy awards nomination process. Richard Brooks, who had replaced George Cukor as the film’s director was nominated for ‘Best Director’, and also for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ along with James Poe.William H Daniels was nominated for ‘Best Cinematography’.In spite of the accolades the nominees failed to receive any of their nominations with the ‘Best Picture’ award going to the musical ‘Gigi’ that year. It is possible that ‘Cat On a Hot Tin Roof’ with all its notoriety may have been a far too controversial choice for Academy voters; ironic considering the script had already been watered down beyond the playwright’s original intent, and although the movie posters for ‘Cat’ had screamed: "ALL THE SULTRY EXPLOSIVE DRAMA OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' PULITZER PRIZE PLAY IS NOW ON THE SCREEN." The reality was somewhat different. The avoidance of any mention of homosexuality (one of the main themes and the motivation for much of the ensuing action in the original play) somewhat dampened its impact - for example, in the play, Maggie had allegedly seduced Skipper, an instance of heterosexual infidelity - to keep his and Brick’s homosexual relationship at bay .This important plot element was missing in the film version; that said, the movie did provide Taylor, Newman and Ives with their best roles to date and has since become something of a classic in Broadway film adaptions.

Maggie the cat is a hysterical, sexually frustrated woman whose loneliness lies in Brick’s refusal to recognise her desire. His rejection has made her hard, nervous and bitter. Maggie is a fascinating character who holds the audience transfixed. They can identify with her desperation/frustration, and are fascinated by the fact that she is bound almost masochistically to a man who does not desire her.This quality of ‘martyrdom’ makes her character all the more beautiful in her envy, longing and dispossession. Faced with Brick’s indifference she begins to crack and fall apart before his eyes; as she changes for Big Daddy’s party in front of a mirror she is at her most seductive but also her most vulnerable as she is totally unable to arouse her husband’s desire. Instead, his look of disgust at her machinations precipitates her transformation into ‘Maggie the Cat’.Maggie’s childless state has also contributed to her dispossessed state, questioning her status as a wife and woman, for without a child she is perceived as a woman who lacks.More pertinently, her childless marriage threatens her and Brick’s place in Big Daddy’s household and ultimately his will. Maggie likens herself to an iconic virgin, describing herself at one point as ‘Saint Maggie’ whilst at the end of the play sister-in-law Mae declares that the only way Maggie could possibly have conceived was through ‘immaculate conception’. The sexually-thwarted Maggie is forced to endure a miserable and degrading ‘second virginity’, one that stands in the logic of the play against the ‘grotesqueness’ of fertility. She is a perfect example of the ‘trophy wife’, and in a literal sense has been left on the shelf to gather dust.


Brick is the favoured son of the Pollit family and mournful lover. He exudes the charm of one who has given up, and has assumed a mantle of indifference before a tainted and corrupt world. As an ex football hero Brick embodies an almost archetypal masculinity; he is selfish, self-possessed, untouchable - a phallic ally-intact man. Before this immovable brick of a man (pun intended) the characters find themselves either in the throes of desire (Maggie) or a state of aggression (Big Daddy).Brick is also a broken man; tormented by the homosexual desire he carried for his friend Skipper he has sunk into a state of depression, hiding from the harsh realities of his world behind a screen of alcohol.Reduced to a daily, mechanical search to discover some semblance of peace he positions himself on the far side of the Pollit family drama.The broken element of Brick’s character is materialised in the broken ankle he sustained while jumping hurdles on the high school athletic field in a drunken stupor. It could be interpreted that Brick’s injury did in fact occur out of nostalgia for the early days of his and Skipper’s friendship - an era which Maggie alludes to as their ‘Greek legend’.Figuratively, Brick’s injury creates a wound/flaw in his otherwise intact masculinity - it is the physical representation of his castration, the unmanning implied in homosexual desire.Brick is confronted about his homosexual desire twice in the play, by Maggie in Act 1 and by Big Daddy in Act 11.It is Big /Daddy’s prodding of what has been tenuously repressed that particularly enrages Brick.As Brick desperately attempts to dodge his father’s ‘interrogation he empties his words of all significance whilst telling Big Daddy that their talks are never productive. Finally, he confesses to Big Daddy that he yearns for “solid quiet” and that the reason he always avoids having to talk with him is because he finds their discussions painful. As Tennessee Williams notes, it is Brick’s horror of being identified with the litany of epithets he recites (“Fairies”) which indicates the extent to which he has internalised the lie of conventional morality, the lie to which Big Mamma pathetically clings to and on which Maggie places her bets at the play’s conclusion.


Big Daddy is a larger-than-life brash and vulgar plantation millionaire who believes that he has cheated death and returned from the grave.Maggie has affectionately dubbed him an “old-fashioned Mississippi redneck”.He loves his son Brick very much, favouring him as his rightful heir.Since his brush with death an unknowing Big Dadddy has adopted a new outlook on life, forsaking the vanities of material possessions in favour of his health, for as he has painfully learnt, a rich man cannot buy his life.He has also come to realise that he has spent a lifetime with a woman he cannot stand, and is determined to buy himself a beautiful woman to smother her in mink and choke her with diamonds. Big Daddy is murderous in his fetishism and informs Brick that there is little shocking on the other side of the moon - “death’s country”.Big Daddy reminisces with Brick about his recent world travels and his ‘taboo’ encounter with a child prostitute.Having returned from death’s country, Big Daddy will now force his son to confront his own secret desire/demons…


Big Mamma is a fat, breathless, sincere, earnest and sometimes grotesque woman bedecked in trashy gems who is totally dedicated to a man who despises her.At the same time she is in total denial of his disgust.She comes across as a sympathetic object of pity, affection and indulgence.Like Big Daddy she favours her son Brick and has pinned all of her hopes for the Pollit dynasty’s future on his shoulders. So desperate is she for the family line to continue via his blood that in Act IV she implores him to father a child and provide Big Daddy with a grandson as similar to he as he is to Big Daddy himself.Big Mamma’s moment of glory/dignity comes with the revelation of Big Daddy’s cancer, for in spite of all the humiliations she has had to endure as his wife, ultimately she rests secure in the knowledge that she has stood by her man. The play is quite taken with (yet at the same time amused) by this old-fashioned display of dogged feminine loyalty.In his stage notes Tennesse Williams employs a humorously catty irony when he indicates that Big Mamma in her new-found dignity almost stops being fat.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF: MOVIE CAST:

Paul Newman: Brick Pollitt
Elizabeth Taylor: Margaret 'Maggie the Cat' Pollitt
Jack Carson: Gooper Pollitt
Madeleine Sherwood: Mae Pollitt
Larry Gates: Dr.Baugh
Patty Ann Gerrity: Dixie Pollitt
Rusty Stevens: Sonny Pollitt
Hugh Corcoran: Buster Pollitt
Robert `Rusty` Stevens: Sonny Pollitt
Brian Corcoran: Boy Pollitt
Judith Anderson: Ida `Big Momma` Pollitt
Jeane Wood: Party Guest
Burl Ives: Harvey `Big Daddy` Pollitt

NON-ACTOR CREDITS:

Tennessee Williams: Writer
William H. Daniels: Cinematographer
James Poe: Screenwriter
Lawrence Weingarten Producer

'CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF' QUOTES:

Brick: One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! I had friendship with Skipper. You are namin' it dirty!

Big Daddy: 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?

Maggie: I'll win, alright.

Brick: Win what? What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?

Maggie: Just staying on it, I guess. As long as she can.

Maggie: I'm not living with you! We occupy the same cage, that's all.

Maggie: One more crack queenie, just one, and I will not only spit in your eye but I will punch it black and blue.

Mae: The only thing Brick ever had to carry was a football or a highball.

Brick: Maggie, you are ruinin' my liquor.

Maggie: And nothing's more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof. Is there? Is there, baby?

Big Daddy: Wouldn't it be funny if that were true?

Big Mama: When the marriage is on the rocks, the rocks are there! (pointing at the bed)

Big Daddy: Why do you drink so much?

Brick: Gimme another drink and I'll tell you.