2008 Woodie Awards
'Hot' times at the university
Josh Perttunen
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Entertainment
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Life is full of lies. Most of them are small and white. They can be motivated by the desire to spare a loved one from having their feelings hurt or to avoid upsetting them.
However, some lies can topple empires. This is the crisis at hand for the Pollitt family in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the final play in the Forrest Roberts Theater's "Blockbuster" season. This play is directed by NMU Professor Paul Truckey and will run tonight through Saturday. Shows will be at 7:30 p.m. with a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday, April 21.
In the heart of the South, in the Pollitt's massive plantation home, the lies are so numerous that one can hardly move without bumping into one.
The plantation's patriarch, Big Daddy (played by NMU professor John Covaleskie), is dying, but this fact is kept from both him and his wife. The perpetrators of this falsehood are his two sons and their wives.
The two sons, Brick (graduate student Ian Leahy) and Gooper (year? Mike Rudden) couldn't be more different in their intentions.
"Gooper represents the effects that greed can have on relationships," Rudden said. "He and his wife plan and plot to take over Big Daddy's plantation. His father's health is of very little concern to him."
"I've never played an antagonist before, and in order to understand the character I had to find a way to rationalize why he does what he does," he said.
Brick's wife, played by Ella Bartlett, sees Gooper's intent and is worried about it, but can't seem to convince him to care one way or another. There is also a crackle of dishonest tension between her and Brick
"In this show, everyone is lying to everyone else and plotting against everyone for their own benefit," Rudden said. "The few honest characters are miserable for having to live in this world full of lies."
"The show kind of holds a mirror up to ourselves and asks us to evaluate our own motives and relationships with those around us," he said.
However, some lies can topple empires. This is the crisis at hand for the Pollitt family in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the final play in the Forrest Roberts Theater's "Blockbuster" season. This play is directed by NMU Professor Paul Truckey and will run tonight through Saturday. Shows will be at 7:30 p.m. with a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday, April 21.
In the heart of the South, in the Pollitt's massive plantation home, the lies are so numerous that one can hardly move without bumping into one.
The plantation's patriarch, Big Daddy (played by NMU professor John Covaleskie), is dying, but this fact is kept from both him and his wife. The perpetrators of this falsehood are his two sons and their wives.
The two sons, Brick (graduate student Ian Leahy) and Gooper (year? Mike Rudden) couldn't be more different in their intentions.
"Gooper represents the effects that greed can have on relationships," Rudden said. "He and his wife plan and plot to take over Big Daddy's plantation. His father's health is of very little concern to him."
"I've never played an antagonist before, and in order to understand the character I had to find a way to rationalize why he does what he does," he said.
Brick's wife, played by Ella Bartlett, sees Gooper's intent and is worried about it, but can't seem to convince him to care one way or another. There is also a crackle of dishonest tension between her and Brick
"In this show, everyone is lying to everyone else and plotting against everyone for their own benefit," Rudden said. "The few honest characters are miserable for having to live in this world full of lies."
"The show kind of holds a mirror up to ourselves and asks us to evaluate our own motives and relationships with those around us," he said.
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Joe Sobel
posted 4/23/07 @ 11:04 AM EST
I enjoyed the play immensely on Saturday night. It was truly a professional presentation in all aspects from terrific acting to subtle interpretation by the director. (Continued…)
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