Sienna Miller and Jack O’Connell will lead the cast as Maggie and Brick in Benedict Andrews’ Young Vic production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, which will begin previews in the West End at the Apollo Theatre on 13 July 2017.
With press night on 24 July, this strictly limited twelve-week run is booking to 7 October 2017. Set designs are by Magda Willi with costume designs by Alice Babidge and lighting by Jon Clark. Further casting will be announced at a later date.
The truth hurts. On a steamy night in Mississippi, a Southern family gather at their cotton plantation to celebrate Big Daddy’s birthday. The scorching heat is almost as oppressive as the lies they tell. Brick and Maggie dance round the secrets and sexual tensions that threaten to destroy their marriage. With the future of the family at stake, which version of the truth is real – and which will win out?
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof marks the Young Vic’s first production to debut directly in the West End and is presented by the Young Vic and The Young Ones. Previously the Young Vic have transferred A View from a Bridge, Golem, The Scottsboro Boys, Simply Heavenly, Tintin and A Doll’s House.
Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize winning play received its world premiere in 1955 at the Morosco Theater on Broadway with Barbara Bel Geddes and Ben Gazzara as Maggie and Brick. The UK premiere, directed by Peter Hall, opened at the Comedy Theatre in 1958 with Kim Stanley and Paul Massie in the same roles. The 1958 Academy Award nominated film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman was directed by Richard Brooks.
Sienna Miller (Maggie) trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. She was last on stage in the West End as Patricia in Flare Path at the Haymarket Theatre, and was previously seen at Wyndham’s Theatre as Celia in As You Like It, with film credits including Live By Night, Mississippi Grind, Layer Cake, Alfie, Casanova, Factory Girl, American Sniper, Foxcatcher, The Edge Of Love and G.I. Joe.
Jack O’Connell (Brick) was last seen on stage in The Nap at Sheffield Crucible Theatre. His other theatre credits include Scarborough for the Royal Court and The Spiderman, The Musicians and Just for NT Shell Connections. His film work has garnered him multiple awards, including the 2015 EE BAFTA Rising Star Award, the New Hollywood Award and the Chopard Trophy Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Most recently, his project Home won the BAFTA for British Short Film in 2017.
For the Young Vic, Benedict Andrews has previously directed his own version of Three Sisters, which won the London Critics’ Circle Best Director Award, and A Streetcar Named Desire, with Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster, which transferred to New York in 2016.