'CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF'

Chagrin Players Bogged in Grim, Talky Drama

By GLEN C. PULLEN signment in the Pulitzer prizehouse. Those were amusing I thought he admirably deTennessee Williams' soulwinning play about rich actor-proof capers compared picted the boozy, mixed-up hussearching "Cat On a Hot Tin Southern family torn apart by to this bitter, often obscure, band who hates his wife for Roof," the Chagrin Falls Sumabnormalities. damp rot. secret hatreds and talkative and morbidly fascinpresumably being responsible ating drama, for the death of his inseparable mer Players discovered, is not It's a brave experiment, Directed by Jack Conner, it chum. easy to explain on a hot July coming after "Ten Nights in becomes a passable production Eleanor Welker from Euclid evening. a Barroom" and "Moon Is with dark moody atmosphere Little Theater also comes They took on a heavy asBlue" at Chagrin Valley Playand a few hard-hitting perthrough effectively as the "Big

formances. The action wavers Mama” of the Mississippi Delta through a sluggishly dull first home of neurotics. She tries to act, growing more arresting avoid falling into the caricawhen Franklin Porath appears tured style of acting by the as the dominating "Big Dadothers in a cast including Andy" of the unhappy Dixie clan. gelo Dragonette, Byron PershPorath sketches a vivid, ing and Paul Micale. plausible portrait of the profane, earthy plantation owner. His voice has the snap of a whip as he roughly probes into the warped mind of his alcoholic son and his sexy daughter-in-law who bemoans her neglected, childless state. Too Shrill

Some of the other players, nearly drowned by Playwright Williams' torrents of repetitious, angry words, sound too shrill or monotonous in delivering them. That happens in the first act battles between Dee Friedman and William Amidon although their characterizations are more compelling.

Mrs. Friedman gives a biting portrayal of “Maggie the Cat," the anguished wife who accuses her indifferent husband of being homosexual. During her tantrums bedeviling everybody she carries dramatic impact but a Dixie accent seems to throw her.

Amidon is an actor who did good work at Karamu Theater.

Anne Temple, Kristle Williams and Blake Temple are the lively "Little Monsters" in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." It runs through Sunday and will be repeated July 16-19.