Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Raven Theatre

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...One of Tennessee Williams' most popular plays (along with The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof seems perhaps the easiest of the three to watch. It lacks the gut-wrenching loneliness of Menagerie or the utter despair of Streetcar. While none of the characters in these three plays bear much outward similarity to present-day Midwesterners like Chicago audiences, it's easier to view the Pollitt family of Cat from a distance than the families of the two earlier plays."

Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Though this production’s easy pace dampens the play’s sexier elements, the payoff is rich. Moments of devastating self-awareness flicker across the faces of these larger-than-life Southern strivers, as when “Maggie the Cat” meows at her reflection, then laughs, slightly appalled. Eleanor Katz as the wife of Big Daddy’s passed-over first son reveals the real bitterness underlying her comic fertility. The flow of Ray Toler’s graceful set allows for constant eavesdropping and intrusion, as this splintered family confronts its patriarch’s imminent demise."

ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended

"...The play builds the dramatic tension gradually allowing each character to unwind their problems and interact effectively. The intensity of Big Mama, Maggie and Brick worked to highlight the underlying anger and unfulfilled desires of each character. Jon Steinhagen, a terrific comic showed his emotionally intense commanding side as Big Daddy. Daddy demonstrated his true desire to help his son Brick with his demons. The play demonstrates the destructiveness of repressed sexuality, alcoholism and repressed anger. This landmark drama demonstrates how an inability to honestly communicate feeling with one another can lead to tragedy."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...Director Michael Menendian clearly savors the nasty humor of Williams' throwaway barbs; fortunately, he also treats the characters' ambitions and heartbreak like a sacred trust and warmly depicts the empty anguish behind the Pollitts’ power plays.  Alternately languorous and fiery, this ”Cat” isn't afraid to feel almost everything Williams wrote; in that at least nothing's hidden.  Ray Toler’s pretty curtains and pseudo-elegant Southern balcony hints at both Delta decadence and Dixie respectability, Christine Ferriter’s lighting turns up the heat or cools off the pot as needed, and the sound design by Katherine M. Chavez evokes the five brats playing outside, the field hands’ serenades for Big Daddy, and the fireworks that celebrate his bittersweet birthday."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Raven, in its “mission Statement” says that it is dedicated to breathing new life into American Classics- well, in their “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” their mission is accomplished!"

Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended

"...Either way, this is a rock solid production of a classic American play, which may be its biggest fault (and my problem with Raven in general). There are moments where it feels like a museum piece. Unlike David Cromer’s explosive Streetcar Named Desire (our review) last season, this Cat lacks revelation. I’m not asking for crazy concepts or heavy doses of deconstruction, but, existentially, this production needs a shot in the arm."