It was a hot, stuffy theater when the lights went out, and a hot, stuffy room in Mississippi when they came back on.
The Wittenberg Theater Department put on a production of Tennessee William’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in its first main stage play of the year. It ran from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10.
The play told the story of a drunken former athlete and his struggles with his wife, his best friend’s death and the circumstances surrounding it, all while his family fights over his dying father’s estate through brown nosing and power plays. It touched on themes of lying, sexual repression, greed and mortality. The story was tragic, but in the end, hopeful.
Over all, the acting was very well done. Most everyone was on point for the character he or she played, and managed to do it in a deep southern accent for the majority of it.
Standouts were senior Payton Marshall as Maggie and junior Carson Betts as Big Daddy. Both had very interesting characters with a lot of lines, and they pulled it off. Marshall helped give sympathy to the catty Maggie, and pulled off the famous monologue well. Betts portrayed the stubborn, old southern man well, and managed to make the character feel very realistic in his anger and in his moments of calm.
“This was some of the best acting out of some of these actors,” senior Amanda Rogus said.
Technically, the play was good as well. The set, which depicted a single room throughout the entirety of the production, was visually interesting, and the actors moved around the stage enough that it felt much bigger and more varied.
The costumes were nice, but the make-up was a bit hit-or-miss. What was done to the actors playing much older characters was fitting and everyone looked their parts, but what was done to freshman Jayson Nowak, the actor playing Brick, to make him seem more muscular looked fake and was a bit distracting.
The lighting and sound were good and fitting for the most part, except for a clip of unseen children playing in a yard that sounded a bit off.
Overall, the play was well acted and well produced. It was compelling and enjoyable, and likely a good sign for more plays to come this year from Wittenberg’s Theater Department.
