We went to see Tennessee Williams’ Cat On a Hot Tin Roof last night, put on by the Melbourne Theatre Company. Before that we had a great dinner at a French inspired bistro at Southbank (Bistro Vite) and it was warm enough to sit outside on their terrace. We overlooked the river, with Flinders Street Station and the city skyline beyond and there were throngs of people out and about. For entree I had the Charcuterie Platter (duck terrine, pate, french sausage and bread) while Mark had smoked salmon with a caper and onion dressing. I followed this with a chargrilled eye fillet served with pont neuf potatoes, caramelised onions, watercress and red wine butter. Mark had the confit chicken with sauteed kipfler potatoes and smoked bacon served with frisee and a baby caper dressing. We decided that we didn’t need dessert.

When we arrived at the theatre we bought a program and discovered the play, which was to begin at 8:30, was scheduled to run for three hours and fifteen minutes.  Now, we don’t mind sitting through Ian MacKellan’s three hour King Lear – it’s an epic play and we were watching one of the greats, but the thought of sitting for over three hours watching people yell at each other concerned us. We made a pact that at interval, if we weren’t enjoying it, we would simply drink our pre-ordered interval glass of wine and scarper. After all, we’d had a nice dinner and we could still say that we had seen the play…

It was a marathon effort. Act One lasted until ten o’clock. Essie Davis was great as Maggie – brittle, alluring, cruel, vulnerable, plus she had great hair and shoes! She really held the play together and you noticed when she wasn’t in a scene. Martin Henderson as Brick captured the intensity required of the role but his Southern accent was not refined enough – he spoke like a lower class Southerner rather than one who is college educated like Brick. They were let down by the rest of the cast – Deidre Rubenstein as Big Mama hammed it up so much it was like watching a cartoon character. Chris Haywood was completely unlikeable as Big Daddy, there was no warmth to him at all. Plus his accent kept slipping. Grant Piro’s Gooper was also overdone – in fact he sounded exactly like Dr Evil when he pronounced his “O”s so I found myself chuckling a couple of times. Gary Files as the Reverend Tooker was stilted. We found the whole play was rather mannered but decided to stay for the second half. We could see how much of the repetition had been removed from the screenplay, plus some rather misogynistic and racist moments. We steeled ourselves for another hour and half but then, when the lights came up at eleven fifteen we didn’t realise the play was over! It was closing night and I got the feeling that the cast was tired, it must be hard night after night playing such intense roles. I’ll be interested to see what happens with Essie Davis’s career though, it was her night really. I read that she will be in Baz Lurhman’s Australia, so I’m hoping she’ll upstage Nicole Kidman. She’s a much better actress.