Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

at the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester

TENSIONS EXPLODE IN SCORCHING NEW PRODUCTION OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ DEEP SOUTH CLASSIC 

A Royal Exchange Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Northern Stage co-production 

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

by Tennessee Williams

directed by James Dacre

designed by Mike Britton 

Royal Exchange Theatre

St Ann’s Square, Manchester

Thursday 30 October – Saturday 29 November

 

 

PRESS NIGHT: Tuesday 4 November at 7.30pm

A scorching new production of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize-winning classic CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF arrives on stage at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from Thursday 30 October to Saturday 29 November.

A co-production between Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Northern Stage, Newcastle, this bold new staging is directed by James Dacre and features original music by Charle Cave  from award-winning band White Lies. 

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is one of the stage’s most seductive evocations of the Deep South. Brimming with emotional intensity, this powerful family drama sees Maggie the Cat and her husband Brick return to his home on the night of patriarch and cotton tycoon Big Daddy’s 65^th birthday. 

The family keep from him the news that he is dying. Life-altering secrets are revealed and tensions explode as they scramble to secure their part of his inheritance.   

The cast includes Ian Charleson Award nominee Charles Aitken, whose credits include SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH at The Old Vic, as Brick; Kim Criswell, who was nominated for an Olivier award for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN in 1993, as Big Mama; Victoria Elliott (last seen at the Royal Exchange in TWO and whose TV credits include HEBBURN) as Mae; Ian Charleson Award

 

winner Mariah Gale, whose many credits with the Royal Shakespeare Company include Juliet, Ophelia, Miranda and Portia, as Maggie and Daragh O’Malley, who is best known for his role in long-running television series Sharpe, as Big Daddy.   

The cast also includes Matthew Douglas as Gooper; Kieron Jecchinis as Doctor Baugh and Sean Murray as Reverend Tooker.   

Royal & Derngate Artistic Director James Dacre directed a highly acclaimed production of THE ACCRINGTON PALS at the Exchange last year. Other recent credits include A TALE OF TWO CITIES and THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN (Royal & Derngate) and HOLY WARRIORS (Shakespeare’s Globe). 

 

He said: “"I'm looking forward to working again with many of the team who staged THE ACCRINGTON PALS. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, written on the eve of the sexual and civil rights revolution, is one of America's greatest plays. The Royal Exchange - as intimate and as grand as the story itself - is the perfect location for this incendiary masterpiece.” 

The creative team is completed by Mike Britton (design), Richard Howell (lighting) and Emma Laxton (sound).

The production arrives at the Royal Exchange after successful runs at Northern Stage in Newcastle and The Royal & Derngate in Northampton.

 

PRESS NIGHT for CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF  is on Tuesday 4 November. For further information, images, or for interview / press review ticket requests, please contact JOHN GOODFELLOW (Press & Communications Manager) on 0161 615 6783 / john.goodfellow@royalexchange.co.uk 

 

Production photos will be available to download from Friday 31 October at www.royalexchange.co.uk/press.

 

Further information also available online at www.royalexchange.co.uk/catroof