Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Company: Theatr Clwyd

Venue: Swansea Grand Theatre
Date & Time: Thursday 17th March, 7.30pm

Writer: Tennessee Williams
Director: Robert Hastie







Tennessee Williams once said “Words are a net to catch beauty” – I know this because I've been on a bit of an information kick since watching the play, which is testament in itself. The man himself is quite an interesting character.

If words are the net to catch beauty, then 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' covers the whole pond. So many words.  Words can reveal and illuminate, or they can obscure and distort, burying issues beneath lies or mundanity - sometimes we say so much, yet say nothing all.

This is my first dip into the plays of Tennessee Williams, so before this I knew little about him or his work. All I knew about this play was that it's considered a ‘great American classic’. I didn't even realise it had been turned into a film many moons ago, starring Elizabeth Taylor – I know, shocking, but remember my theatrical education until recent years has been solidly based in musical theatre.  Even during my actual theatre education, the syllabus focussed more on physical and experimental theatre.

We join Maggie and her incapacitated husband, Brick, in their bedroom as they get ready for the birthday of patriarch, Big Daddy. The set, designed by Janet Bird, portrays the families vast wealth with chandeliers, four poster beds and balconies and the gently whirring fans in the upstage corridor, set the balmy southern location of their Southern plantation family home.

It is up to Catrin Stewart as Maggie to set the tone, almost solo, which she does expertly – her southern drawl so real, that at times I have to use all my concentration to understand. Brick, played by Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd, lurks about the set moodily, glaring, blank and unemotional ahead, into a void as he gulps down drink after drink – Maggie talks at him, but he barely seems to hear her. He makes occasional interjections, but it's a monologue from Maggie for the first 20 minutes or so, where she moans about the 'no-neck monsters' (the kids) of Bricks brother, Gooper, eventually revealing her true message – her personal misery of Brick's lack of desire for her and, consequently, having no children of their own.

All the rest of the family seem to know Maggie's troubles and all pitch in their unsolicited advice, but there are many more lies and secrets that plague this family. One of which being the metaphor itself - Big Daddy has terminal cancer, unbeknown to himself and his wife, Big Mama.

Desmond Barrit's presence as Big Daddy is powerful, heavy and ominous. It is in his scenes with David-Lloyd that pulse at the heart of this production, as he slowly breaks through the dam and forces him to communicate. Where most characters create a lot of noise, Brick – as his name so perfectly suggests - remains still and silent. His scene with Big Daddy lets some of that emotion filter through, as he's forced to confront guilt and repressed sexuality.

The play closes on yet another lie – Maggie tells Big Daddy that she is pregnant and vows to Brick that she will make it true, and I the circle of mendacity is doomed to continue.

Williams's work is incredibly intriguing to me. This production was not an easy watch, but if you want that, go see one of the numerous cover bands that frequent the theatre's programme. If you want a deep, intelligent play with lots of meat on its bones, packed full of themes, both blatant and underlying, then you couldn't go far wrong with this. I will certainly be seeking out more productions from Tennessee Williams's back catalogue now that I've discovered his work.

Thank you Theatre Clwyd for your compelling and thoughtful production – it deserved a much bigger audience than it received on the Thursday evening production which I saw, and I cannot commend the cast highly enough for giving it their all, none-the-less.  

John Owen Jones Unmasked Live at Swansea Grand Theatre (Saturday 17th November)

It was quite a strange feeling having a big musical theatre performer choose my local theatre as the venue to showcase songs from his albums. In the weeks leading up to the show, there was a buzz from people all over the uk on twitter and for once I didn’t need to get train tickets or book a hotel or do the dreaded packing as I was already here.

As someone who is often at the Grand Theatre (in fact I’m there this week as stage crew for Abbey Player’s Sound of Music) I can tell you that I haven’t experienced an atmosphere here quite as electric as it was for John Owen Jones. The audience were made up of many familiar local faces, some familiar twitter faces (such as his biggest fans – the Archer family) and coach loads of completely unfamiliar faces. 

The reason he chose Swansea is, of course, because he hails from a nearby town called Burry Port. This meant that all his family could attend, most of whom sat in one of the boxes on the left (or, to use the correct jargon, stage right... the stagey part of me won’t let that go).

This made for a few special moments, most prominently when he dedicated the song ‘New Words’ from his self-titled album to his son, at the end of which I could see his wife wiping away a tear or two.

He opened the show with his powerful version of ‘Thunderball’ from his most recent album ‘Unmasked’ then took us through the back catalogue of songs from both this album and his previous self-titled one.

John Owen Jones didn’t spend the evening alone on that stage, however. He was accompanied by a large orchestra who sat on stage with him and produced a beautiful wall of sound for his powerful vocals.

He’d also invited along some special guests including one of his Christine’s, the beautiful, talented soprano Katy Treharne who soared through a rendition of ‘Think of Me’ and dueted with Mr Owen Jones singing ‘All I Ask of You’ (during which John Owen Jones made an “on purpose” mistake.... to check we were listening properly, of course).

His next guest was a young boy called Jack Sullivan who toured with Oliver! last year and the beginning of this year and treated us to a performance of  ‘Where is Love’ from the aforementioned musical as well as an Eva Cassidy style version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. You can also catch him singing again with John Owen Jones next week in Edinburgh at The Usher Hall.

The last guest was the real surprise as he wasn’t even listed in the programme. This is a man who can challenge John Owen Jones for the crown of king of the Phantom’s, having been described as the definitive Phantom and clocking up an impressive 2750 performances. The final guest was the one and only Peter Karrie. It was a real treat hearing the pair do a specially arranged duet of ‘Music of the Night’. To see my Gramps’ face light up when Karrie came on stage was worth so much more than the price of the tickets (don’t worry, this is just a rare soppy moment and it won’t happen again.... probably).  

Owen Jones left till last his two ‘most requested’ songs, both of which follow a similar theme and run nicely into one another. First the very moving, poignant ‘Tell My Father’ from a musical I’d never heard of called ‘Civil War’ by Frank Wildhorn (whose shows ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and ‘Scarlett Pimpernel’ you might know) and ending with a song from one of the most loved musicals that he owes a lot to – that is, of course, ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables.

It wasn’t just an evening of serious songs though. A couple of comedy songs were thrown in, including a song where John Owen Jones called two audience members to the stage and had them blow raspberrys at various intervals, then asked all the audience members to join in.

Another was a song he claimed he’d never been able to get right and that the MD, John Quirk, had bet him £50 he couldn’t do. It was a song written to Chopin’s Minute Waltz (I think – please correct me if that’s wrong) which got a little faster each time it was played. By the end the lyrics were little more than a blur – very amusing yet impressive all at once.

There was good banter between John Owen Jones and John Quirk – you can tell that they get on really well and are friends as well as colleagues and there was even a nice moment where Quirk sang the harmony for a song the Owen Jones really wanted to do, but couldn’t have otherwise (I’m not going to tell you what the song was, though..... because I can’t remember, not because I’m mean)

At the end, John Owen Jones did a signing and luckily I was quite near the front of the queue and didn’t have to wait too long. As the queue was so long, however, we were rushed through a little.

It was a very enjoyable evening with a fantastic atmosphere full of people who were all there to celebrate John Owen Jones’s voice. If he tours this show, I feel it could use a little polishing as some bits seemed a little clunky and disjointed and he could, perhaps, have thrown in some more anecdotes as these are what make an audience warm to a performer. Overall, though, I had a really good time and my grandparents seemed to really enjoy it too.