O.C. Theater Review : A Red-Hot ‘Tin Roof’

Compared with Tennessee Williams’ original script for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” sensitively realized in this production at UC Irvine, Elia Kazan’s watered-down Broadway version and his even more tepid film adaptation are pretty lame. Williams’ anger glows red hot here, almost as much as it did in a later version of the play directed a few years ago by Jose Quintero at the Mark Taper Forum.

The scene is Big Daddy Pollitt’s last birthday party. He is dying of cancer, and a frantic chess game is being played involving him, his favorite son Brick and Brick’s wife, Maggie the Cat.

Brick’s disgust for life and his Echo Springs Bourbon-splashed indifference not only to his father but also to the sexually explosive Maggie have sprung from accusations concerning his rich, deep friendship and honest love for his now-deceased best friend Skipper.

Williams’ dialogue in this version very plainly lays all this out and makes very open Big Daddy’s understanding of his son’s relationship with Skipper.

The three central performances in this production, under Andrea Peterson’s high-tension direction, are exceptional. Peterson knows where the pain is, and the sound of the characters’ heartbeats. She has shaped the action and the rhythms impeccably.

In the beginning, Tyler Layton’s Maggie has a nice icy edge beneath the Southern cheerleader bonhomie, an edge that soon cracks as her confidence crumbles and her fears begin to surface. Layton also gives Maggie a different twist with an honest sense of humor that shows why Brick first fell for her. It’s a strong performance.

Strong also is Peter DeFeo’s Big Daddy, again with an interesting sense of humor that comes out when he’s alone with Brick but is hidden from the rest of the family. Their scene together is fraught with tension and an underlying love that the milder scripts only hint at.

But as good as Layton and DeFeo are, this staging belongs to John W. Gloria’s Brick. It is a kaleidoscopic portrait, with flashing tones and values, from the brooding emotional vacuum behind Brick’s darting, hooded eyes, to his escapes into the innocence of his youth and his friendship with Skipper, to his explosive anger at his emotional and sexual impotence. It is a stunning performance that gives the staging great stature.

*

Marika Becz’s Big Mama is warm and cutesy to just the right Southern turn and sturdy enough to impress when the going gets rough. Anne James Dreiling’s Mae Pollitt also is a very true portrait of a flannel-mouthed Southern stereotype, sweet as sorghum when she wants something, vicious and cruel when she’s crossed.

Devlin Elliott is very good as Mae’s weak husband, Gooper, Brick’s grasping older brother. Frank Gallegos is Big Daddy’s doctor, and Robin Spehar is the minister who tags along. Both roles are thankless walk-ons, but Spehar overdoes his stereotype with his spread hands held in prayer and his waving of a white handkerchief a la Helen Morgan.

The Pollitt ambience is re-created expertly in Sarah Sullivan’s atmospheric scenic design, David Klevens’ warm lighting and Felicia Pam Libbin’s evocative costumes.

* “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Fine Arts Studio Theatre, UC Irvine. Today at 2 and 8 p.m. SOLD OUT. (714) 824-4259 or (714) 824-5000. Running time: 3 hours, 5 minutes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

John W. Gloria: Brick Pollitt

Tyler Layton: Maggie Pollitt

Peter DeFeo: Big Daddy

Marika Becz: Big Mama

Anne James: Dreiling Mae Pollitt

Devlin Elliott: Gooper

Frank Gallegos; Doc Baugh

Robin Spehar: Reverend Tooker

A “Drama at UCI Stage 2” production of Tennessee Williams’ play, directed by Andrea Peterson. Scenic design: Sarah Sullivan. Lighting design: David Klevens. Costume design: Felicia Pam Libbin. Stage manager: Valerie F. Claxton.