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Meenu…the following is your review of the play from August 15, 2008…saved from the old forum…
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I went… I saw…
I bought a programme of the play before I went to my seat.
You will find scans from it in this review. Browsing through the programme I already knew what Martin’s look for this play will be Cassidy..ish. He looked like ‘Cassidy’s’ younger brother (younger by about 5 years if not more). He has cut his hair short and his face is almost clean.
When the stage lit up ‘Maggie’- Essie came on and was talking to ‘Brick’- Martin who was in the shower (off stage) He was replying back to her and there was a lot of dialogue. From the second I heard his voice my heart jumped… I was all like ‘it’s him ! it’s him!’ and I kept telling myself to hold on for he will be on stage soon.
Then he came on- in a white towel wrapped around his waist and another smaller one that he played with for the next few scenes. It went from shoulder to shoulder – hand to hand. His left leg was in a cast offcourse… ‘Brick’ is in a cast throughout the play.
My first impression of Martin was that he is taller and leaner than I imagined. Muscular yet quite lean. He sat on the arm of the sofa on stage and his stomach did not have one fold on it. The second thing I noticed was that he is paper white. No tan.
Is he handsome or what? He is one helluva good looking guy. There is this bit in the play when Maggie tells Brick that she wishes he wasn’t this good looking…and that he should go and get ugly and fat so that she stops craving for him. I thought isn’t that strange…cause that would probably be the exact thing any woman facing rejection from Martin would be saying. He is over the top attractive.
If Martin is still single then he must be making a very active effort to stay that way. He’s probably getting hit on every few minutes.
I shifted in my seat when he came on and sat on the edge of it while Martin was on stage. I did not even look at any of the other performers on stage- not once. I kept my eyes stiffly fixed on Martin. If he moved from one side of the stage to the other…so did my eyes. I knew what I was there for- for Martin and I wasn’t going to give a second look to anyone else.
It was beautiful….the experience.
Brick walked around with the crutch …Martin does it so well! He fixed himself a few drinks… with one functional hand. Then he went offstage and that’s when I saw the other actors. Essie is thin, she has a coca-cola bottle body but her but was too perfect to be real. It must have been a padded fake butt, however if it’s her own I congratulate her. There were other actors who played Brick’s mom, brother and sister-in-law…also their many children offcourse. Everyone was great.
Martin came onto the stage soon… he was in white silk pyjamas and a burgundy robe next (he wasn’t gone too long- thank God for small mercies). I thought the robe was in good taste because it wasn’t touching the floor. He could move around easily.
Then came the part where Maggie suggests that Brick should impregnate her. Brick tells her that he can’t even stand her.
However just before this part Martin’s Crutch broke- right there on stage. Everyone laughed including Martin. He changed the dialogue to ‘I can’t even stand!’ which was about right…but then he said the whole thing ‘I can’t even stand you’. I think Martin handled that quite gracefully – that was a cute moment.
When the other actors came onstage- they brought Martin a new crutch… Martin got rid of the broken one. To this- everyone cheered… including me.
Once Big Daddy and Brick get into a heated discussion… they go into a break.
When this recess came on the Lady sitting next to me went ‘you must really like the guy playing Brick’ I mean she noticed sitting in that dark theatre that I could not get my eyes off Martin… and that I did not sit back at all.
I have the good guy at tickemaster to thank for the lovely seat. The stage was in good view and I fed my eyes off Martin plenty. Well done.
I won’t get into the story of the play because I think everyone knows it by now. Offcourse if I have a request I will summarise it.
After the Recess: coming soon…
Still you, Meenu…Part 2….
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.Part 2
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The gentleman playing Big Daddy is a superb actor. I saw enough of him to notice that. He and Martin were excellent together. They brought the whole argument to life- and it really did feel like father-son fighting.Big Daddy kept asking Brick ‘Why do you drink?’ and Brick avoided the question till he totally could not escape it. Martin used the stage space extremely well; He went from one end to the other cringing and withdrawing… all on his crutch. He moves well with the crutch.
I think I ought to mention the drinks Martin fixed on stage. The bar was on the right side of the stage and martin must have made dozens of drinks while playing brick… every drink with a systematic order. I would have counted all of them had I been aware of this before the play…but I only noticed when he had fixed a few already. He used one hand because the other one was holding the crutch and it went in this order:He placed the glass on the bar shelf
He unscrewed the booze bottle with one hand and poured it in
He topped it with ice cubes
And finally with soda water…. From another bottle.
!!!! Such order to it all… well done Martin.Back to the heated discussion. Brick finally answers his father’s question with a simple explanation- he drinks so that he can feel a ‘click’ in his head…and that makes him peaceful. I thought that so beautiful!
The way things were going I predicted that Brick should be smashing a glass pretty soon. Towards the end of the scene he did throw his drink glass towards the back of the room. The stage had deep ends at the back and the glass fell right into the deep back end. I think the glass was meant to be onstage… but it did not smash. The ice cubes fell out of it and their click-clacking was heard, offcourse the glass hitting the wooden floor was a loud bang too. But it did not break…and landed offstage.
I felt the glass was not made of glass… why would it not smash otherwise?
And the ice could have been prop ice too.
He fell down a few time too. Mostly after trying to fling his crutch around in anger. Then he crawled. Aww! he did it all so well…
Martin was definitely ‘alive’ in this scene. I did not feel the gay undertone at all… maybe Martin underplayed it. But he is pretty convincing that it’s because of Maggie’s failed seduction attempt with Skipper that brick is like he is now. Plus the fact that she put the you might be gay bug in his head that finally killed him. Brick also feels guilty about being rude to Skipper on the phone last.
No way was Martin’s Brick gay… na na nope… not!After the ‘click’ concept was introduced- it was often talked about. He needs to hear the ‘click’ the ‘click’ and I liked it a lot. However….
Later in the play there is a scene where Brick flicks his fingers to his head and goes ‘ah ha!’ as if he discovered something… but immediately after says ‘No it wasn’t the click’… Everyone giggled at this point. I think Martin played it a bit comically but I did not find it too funny. I always took the ‘click’ seriously.
Martin got sexier as time lapsed.
Then comes the part where Maggie announces that she is pregnant. She’s lying offcourse (for those of us who haven’t read the play). The mother-in-law seems ecstatic with the news and can’t wait to tell dear daddy-in-law. LOL Brick’s expression was priceless when she made the announcement. But he doesn’t embarrass her by spilling the truth. He’s a gentleman- a very drunk gentleman.
During the course of the play- Maggie mentioned it often enough that if they wanted there would be no reason for them to not have a child. It’s also the right time of the month for her to conceive!
Finally the stage was cleared of everyone except Brick and Maggie. She thanked him for ‘saving her face’. Then she caves him towards the bed and started kissing his neck and lips. He resisted to begin with so most of this foreplay was done by her.
She said ‘Brick you know I love you’.
He said, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if that was true’.
They went with the original ending. The movie ends differently. I like this original one better cause there is a melancholic ring to it. He doesn’t seem convinced that she does love him… but he decides to go with it. There is a certain kind of sadness I felt for Brick at this point.
It ends with him reaching for her- finally holding her, leaning on top of her. They are kissing passionately now… and the lights dim.
The entire seating area in the theatre lit up… audiences became visible.
The good lady sitting next to me said, ‘Boy! Did you see how that ended?’ I went like ‘Yes I did see that… I’m kind of in love with the guy playing Brick.’
The cast came back on stage and took a bow. I clapped my head off!
Then they went away and individual actors came out and took a bow.
When Martin came- I clapped my head off again!
It was all good.
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End post. LOL! I saved a TON of shit from everyone, as much as I could, from the old forum.Also reposting this 2008 review from a blogger:
.Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Review
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.Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (MTC)
September 3, 2008 by pencil1902
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Last night I went to see MTC’s production of Cat On A Hot Tin RoofThree hours of my life I won’t be getting back
Unfortunately, the so-called-actor’s would be better titled as ’shouters’
There was no acting, just people shouting at each other
The first 45 minutes consisted of Essie Davis’s Maggie shouting incessantly at her husband Brick
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The only highlight of the show was Martin Henderson’s BrickHe was the only actor who didn’t shout and actually emoted
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The best thing about the play was the first 45minutes in which Martin Henderson wandered around the stage in nothing but a plaster cast and a towel
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What a body!
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Nice work Martin Henderson – Nice to look at and a decent actor too!
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Big Mamma was so irritating I had to stop myself from jumping up on stage and shaking herAnd Big Daddy’s accent was so abysmal he may as well have been running an outback sheep station rather than a plantation in the Deep South
Essie definitely looked the part and her costumes were perfect, it’s a shame she couldn’t act the part as well
All in all, it was a very long, frustrating and disappointing performance
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It was hilarious to see Henderson’s reaction during curtain call, the luke warm applause burst into hot blooded female cheers, before descending back into the luke warm reception when Essie took the stake for her final bow.
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It was a long and tedious play, poorly acted but pleasantly Henderson‘d.
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