Smack dab in the middle of the printed text of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, just as Big Daddy and Brick are in the heat of a painful conversation, Tennessee Williams describes his play’s crux: “The bird that I hope to catch in the net of this play is not the solution of one man’s psychological problem. I’m trying to catch the true quality of experience in a group of people, that cloudy, flickering, evanescent – fiercely charged! – interplay of live human beings in the thundercloud of a common crisis. “ And what a thundercloud it is! The play takes place in Mississippi in the 1950’s, a time of American prosperity, materialism, and conformity. It is a part of the U.S. – the South – that is sweltering hot (especially in summer), a place and time where class divisions, where you live, and your family name are relevant. In its depiction of family members each in his or her own struggle for happiness and control, the play tackles such complex issues as mortality, sexual desire, the corrupting effects of money, and self-delusion.

Maggie refers to herself as “a cat on a hot tin roof,” and she is indeed like a cat in heat: desperate, wily and tenacious. But the metaphor is apt for practically every character in the play. In the stifling heat of a Mississippi summer, each skitters about like a cat on a hot surface, anxiously grabbing at money or love or solace or life everlasting. In 2007, I directed a production of Cat for the English Theatre of Frankfurt. I wish to extend my gratitude to them for their generous assistance with this new production. It was my first experience directing a Williams play. Since that time, I’ve had the good fortune to direct two of his other major works: A Streetcar Named Desire (also for Frankfurt) and The Glass Menagerie.  His plays share common traits, not least of which is a language lush with lyricism and surprising metaphors. His characters are often outsiders, desperate to escape their families, their pasts, or their inner demons. Yet they are survivors – no matter how cruel life and society can be – and they survive with humor and an appreciation of irony. No wonder actors and directors love to work on his plays! There is so much fertile ground to till. I am grateful to Julia Schafranek and Vienna’s English Theatre for giving me the opportunity to revisit this American masterpiece.

Jonathan Fox