Tennesse Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a co-production between Northampton's Royal and Derngate, Manchester's Royal Exchange and Northern Stage, comes to Newcastle on 18th September.
Mariah Gale whose many credits with the Royal Shakespeare Company include Juliet, Ophelia, Miranda and Portia. Charles Aitken (Sweet Bird of Youth, Old Vic) plays her husband, Brick. Big Mama is played by seasoned Broadway and West End performer Kim Criswell (Candide at La Scala, Sound of Music at Le Chatalet), winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Side by Side by Sondheim and nominated for an Olivier for Best Actress in Musical for the title role in Annie Get Your Gun. Winner of a Drama Logue Award for Best Actor for Dealer’s Choice in Los Angeles and veteran of seasons at the RSC, Daragh O’Malley (Sharpe, The Long Good Friday, Withnail and I) plays the tycoon Big Daddy.
Matthew Douglas (A Winter’s Tale, Headlong) plays Gooper, Kieron Jecchinis (To Kill a Mockingbird, Royal Exchange) is Doctor Baugh and Sean Murray (A Tale of Two Cities, Royal & Derngate) is Reverend Tooker.
Newcastle-born actress Victoria Elliott makes a welcome return to Northern Stage to play the role of Mae. She was nominated for Best Actress in the 2012 Manchester Theatre Awards for Two at the Royal Exchange. Her performances at Northern Stage include Oh What a Lovely War!. Her many credits at Live Theatre include A Nightingale Sang and, most recently, Tyne. She is best known to TV viewers for Hebburn and 55 Degrees North.
James Dacre directs. He said, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, written on the eve of the sexual and civil rights revolution, is one of America’s greatest plays. I’m thrilled that Royal & Derngate, Northern Stage and the Royal Exchange – all as intimate and as grand as the story itself – are working together for the first time to stage Tennessee Williams’ incendiary masterpiece."
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof runs from 12th to 27th September at Northern Stage.