Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

The State Small Theatre of Vilnius invites you to rediscover the cult American playwright Tennessee Williams and his classic text Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The German director Christian Weise, a talented explorer of the bourgeois lifestyle, has taken up the task to stage a work on the Lithuanian theatre stage. Like many of Williams' works, this one also focus on the sores of the author's own personal experience - alcoholism, homosexuality and identity problem, trying to fit in and act in society.

The work is set in the conservative environment of the Southern United States, immersing us in an enclosed space - a cotton plantation, where is celebrated its tycoon Big Daddy's birthday at his own house. Big Daddy is deathly ill, but he doesn't know it yet. A fighting for his inheritance has already begun among his descendants. The son Gooper, his wife Mae and their spoilt children play the role of a happy family, a “social cell” that would supposedly be satisfying to the traditional society and that alone makes them worthy of inheritance. Meanwhile, the other son, Brick, has already withdrew from the race for Daddy's pot of gold. His wife Maggie tries to persuade him, but his alcoholism and his secret love for his former teammate - the Captain - make Brick give up as if justifying his male impotence. But Maggie is the persistent “cat on a hot tin roof”, and then there's also Daddy's own affection for his fallen son.  

For the 1955 version of this play T. Williams won the Pulitzer Prize and became second-time winner of this prestigious award. In the history of Western theatre, Williams has emerged as a gifted master of human psychology and a subtle explorer of family relationships. Ch. Weise has chosen to direct a second version of this play, written by the author himself a little later, in 1974. The authentic setting of the work is also helped by Julia Oschatz's hand-painted set, which mixes two-dimensional and three-dimensional perspectives to create a seamless world that breaks out of the moulds of ordinary reality, and which even more deepens the dramatic situation of Williams' characters in the face of spiritual and physical corruption. This is strongly emphasised by Josa Marx's thoughtful costumes and make-up. The phantasmagoric quality is reinforced by the soundtrack by composer Jens Dohle, by the specific sounds illustrating the characters' actions and by the partially live music during the performance. Weise's work would also be unthinkable without the apt humour even in the darkest dramatic moments.

*

“In all the Baltic countries, I feel as if people are hiding something in their basements - a difficult history. It's interesting and funny how much American culture there is in Lithuania. I want to try to bring that feeling to the stage. I like to put layers in the play that can be recognised by the people who live in that culture. What people recognise touches them the most.”

Christian Weise, director

Additional information

(Ages 16+): explicit content, theatrical smoke.

*

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
Produced by the State Small Theatre of Vilnius in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Litauen and Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.