The year 2011 is the centenary of playwright Tennessee Williams and I've been considering some sort of personal Williams project. Maybe the Year of Williams Thinking? Too derivative?
While I was a theater major in college, I have seen and read very little of Williams'
work--just the occasional film adaptation and I'm sure I had to read Glass Menagerie for some class. Oh, and I was in a production of Summer and Smoke in college. I've always had the (unsubstantiated) thought that Williams told the same couple of stories over and over. Perhaps I should read and see a little more before I make such a bold and damning statement.
Well, while I consider that project, I ran across a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that I thought might be interesting, so I checked it out from the library and enjoyed watching a version created for Granada Television in 1977. Such a quintessential American play seems an odd choice for the British Television company, but this was part of a series of performances produced and starring Laurence Olivier, who must have seen the role of Big Daddy as a good fit for him at the time.
The production is well done with a seasoned cast of mostly Americans. Natalie Wood is memorizing as Maggie and while I found her performance a little too twitchy even for this twitchy character, I couldn't take my eyes off her. Ms. Wood's husband Robert Wagner portrays Brick, Maggie's downward-spiralling husband. I enjoyed Mr. Wagner's performance as well. He is very still for much of it, particularly in contrast to Maggie.
If I do take on Tennessee, one question in my mind is the structure within his plays, both the overall structure and of the scenes and beats within the plays. If feel that maybe he is a good structuralist and gives actors lots of moments to build and release the tension in a scene. At least that is my first impression based on this one television version. Given the loads of Williams plays to investigate (by reading, seeing live, or viewing on film) that question alone could fuel a year's worth of discussion.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams in 1955
This production for Granada Television produced in 1977 as part of Laurence Olivier Presents
Starring Laurence Olivier, Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Maureen Stapleton
While I was a theater major in college, I have seen and read very little of Williams'
work--just the occasional film adaptation and I'm sure I had to read Glass Menagerie for some class. Oh, and I was in a production of Summer and Smoke in college. I've always had the (unsubstantiated) thought that Williams told the same couple of stories over and over. Perhaps I should read and see a little more before I make such a bold and damning statement.
Well, while I consider that project, I ran across a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that I thought might be interesting, so I checked it out from the library and enjoyed watching a version created for Granada Television in 1977. Such a quintessential American play seems an odd choice for the British Television company, but this was part of a series of performances produced and starring Laurence Olivier, who must have seen the role of Big Daddy as a good fit for him at the time.
The production is well done with a seasoned cast of mostly Americans. Natalie Wood is memorizing as Maggie and while I found her performance a little too twitchy even for this twitchy character, I couldn't take my eyes off her. Ms. Wood's husband Robert Wagner portrays Brick, Maggie's downward-spiralling husband. I enjoyed Mr. Wagner's performance as well. He is very still for much of it, particularly in contrast to Maggie.
If I do take on Tennessee, one question in my mind is the structure within his plays, both the overall structure and of the scenes and beats within the plays. If feel that maybe he is a good structuralist and gives actors lots of moments to build and release the tension in a scene. At least that is my first impression based on this one television version. Given the loads of Williams plays to investigate (by reading, seeing live, or viewing on film) that question alone could fuel a year's worth of discussion.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams in 1955
This production for Granada Television produced in 1977 as part of Laurence Olivier Presents
Starring Laurence Olivier, Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Maureen Stapleton
