Bv CHRISTINE BARNEY

or those who like to go
Fbeneath the surface of a
play, Briggs Opera House
helped while away a gray
Sunday on November 15. They
sandwiched a 2.5 hour play
between a 60 minute lecture
and a discussion with the cast
about themes in the play.
Professor Richard Orth pro-
videda prologue to Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof with a lecture

ml‘, the
idea that

gay men's
relation-
ships could
he pure

comparing Tennessee
Williams’ work with that of
Arthur Miller. He supplement-
ed the literary criticism with
personal background of the
playwright’s life, including
Tennessee’s outing himself in
the early ‘60s.

Orth summarized Williams’
professional career as strug-
gling for years, taking off near
the end of World War II, and
washing out after 1961, in that
none of his later works
achieved critical acclaim. The
professor suggested that the
mark of the successful plays
was their ability tofbe credible
to the audience of their day,
rather than to seem forced or
contrived. Would Cat’s themes
still have the ring of truth and
relevance 43 years after it was
written? The answer is yes.

The cast'provided skilled
portrayals of family tensions
along many dimensions based
on human nature, which is
timeless. The sad social com-

—mentary is that the play’s

homophobia is also totally
credible today.

Mendacity, which one could
concede is a gender neutral
term, plays throughout the
story. Each character offers
different justifications and
goals for lies, covering most
categories contemporary peo-
ple use. Intermittent explo-
sions between the players
sequentially destroy various
mythical ways that silence or
pretense was supposed to be
benign.

Motives include: ensuring
direct personal gain, avoiding
being on one’s own after
escaping poverty through mar-
riage, keeping Big Daddy’s
spirits and appetite up for his
65th birthday, making some-
one else look bad, or making
the family look “good.”
Eventually, they all are
exposed as just increasing the
intensity of conflict, and
destroying trust. Token parts
for a cleric who overlooks the
obvious, and a physician who

-The Cat Still Pla s on
the Hot Ti

n R00

practices paternalistic lying
and secrecy, warn that deceit
exists beyond family ties.
Unfortunately, this too has-a
current credibility.

The shockingly unexpected
stench of authentic cigarette
and cigar smoke in a “smoke
free” theater seemed unneces-

sarily dramatic parallelism of

Big Daddy’s lines alerting his
family that he has detected the
smell of deceit. This and the
full volume shouting in con-
frontational scenes advocates
that sensitive souls would be
better off towards the rear
seats, though the view from
row B was superb.

What are the Cat’s mes-
sages about relationships? The
only one described as rare in
its closeness, equality, gentle-
ness and purity, is that of Brick
and Skipper, which the play
portrays as never consummat-
ed. Brick had not come to
terms with, and perhaps had no
modeling for, the idea that gay
men’s relationships could be
pure and-clean in a moral
sense, without being chaste.

Over the course of the play,
it becomes clearer that his
abhorrence of the suggestion
of an eroticized nature of his
friendship with Skipper, arose
once others intruded by nam-
ing it. His pleasure in the mag-
ical connection shattered when
it was no longer secret, and
when he had to encompass the
idea that it could represent
what he had been trained to
view as evil. His attempt to
cloak his grieving in alcohol,
since the death of his friend
will not be recognized in the
heterosexist world as equal to
the loss of a spouse, still rings
true.

The bar is prominent on
stage, and draws Brick back
time and time again. Over the
play, he tries to answer the
obvious question of why he
drinks. He finally describes
that he seeks the “click,” that
transformation from active
brain that struggles with his

lies and loss,
to peaceful
brain that will
not let him
feel the pain.
He drinks even
as he tells that
his true friend
died of being a
“lush.” Family
tried to threat-
en, command,
wheedle, and
punish him to
get him to
stop, as if their

word was
enough to
break his
habit. Some
try to take
blame them-

selves or place
blame on oth-
ers, as they try
to explain why
the favorite
son turned into
someone who
will live only
for this click.
Credibility in the presenta-
tion suffered most in the non-
verbals of some of the cast.

Brick’s behavior was too unaf- '

fected by the obviously esca-
lating amount he drank, until
at the end he at least looked
sleepy. His movements, his
clarity of speech and thought,
and his balance while doing
one legged hops with a cast, all
looked sober. (Perhaps one is
to conclude that his wife and
family, in the desperate
attempt to control his drinking,
had watered the liquor.) Mae’s
obvious girth of theatrical
pregnancy was not matched by
appropriate stance or gait.

The power of confronting
death, escaping it, then retum-
ing to deal with the reality that
time is limited and unpre-
dictable for all, seems to cast a
plea for the audience to hold
life precious. All the power
over the field workers, domin-
ion over vast acreage of fertile
soil, scornful control over his

   

commentary is

the play's

mate and his brood — none of

his “achievements” can fore-
stall Big Daddy’s death.

As the play nears a close,
another lie would prophesy the
fulfillment of Big Daddy’s
fondest dream for Brick’s heir.
When the lie becomes a
manipulative threat to cajole
intercourse that Maggie has
sought throughout the play,
one wonders where the lies
will end, and what do dreams
really mean anyway?

In responding to the
offer/threat, and to the factual
challenge posed by the ever-
eavesdropping greedy brother
and sister-in-law, Brick issues
one of the more multilevel
hopeful comments of the play:
Some people love quietly.

Northern Stage, and
Tennessee Williams, bright-
ened a gray day with the pro-
duction. Maybe in some
humanistically enlightened
day, it will become outdated;
for now, it still is a success.V

and clean
in a moral

Noel and Friends Unplugged for

First Night

oél & Friends will be per-
“forming for the 6th year

in a row at the annual
First Night St. Johnsbury.
During the first two of three
sets at 9pm and 10pm, the
always stellar Bad Puppy Trio
featuring Becky Canedy, Cathy
Sargent & Pat Webster, will
join Noel in performing some
original tunes along with some
favorite holiday and non-holi-
day songs. The Vermont Gay
Men’s Chorus, of which Noel

is a member, will sing a few

selections as well. as backing

up Noel on a couple of holiday

tunes during the final set at
11pm. All three shows will be
accompanied on piano by the

talented Mark Violette and will
be totally acoustic in nature.
This marks a departure from

the loud and lively CD backing
tracks that are usually a part of
a live Noel & Friends experi-
ence. All three performances
will be held at the Universalist

Church on Cherry St., across
Eastern Ave. from Catamount
Arts.

First Night is an alcohol-
free, family-oriented (whatev-
er family means to you) event
featuring singers, story-tellers,
magicians, musicians, artists,
actors, dancers, etc. at several
venues surrounding the Main
St. area in St. Johnsbury, VT.

Admission buttons, which
allow entry to all venues
except food vendors, can be

purchased for $8 prior to Dec.

25th and $10 during the week ‘

between Christmas and the
actual New Year’s Eve event.
For more information Contact
the First Night St. Johnsbury
office at (802)-748-4561. For
more information about Noel
call (802)-748-1024 or email
iris@together.net. For more
information about The
Vermont Gay Men’s Chorus (A
Vocal Minority), email rob-
nyves@together.net. V