NEWPORT Playgoers Society close their 2022/23 season on the Dolman Theatre stage with the American classic Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

The show will open on Wednesday, June 14, at 7.15pm and will run through to a matinee on June 17 at 2pm.

Deemed by Williams as his favourite of his many hit plays, it was written in the 50s and was revived on Broadway in the 70s.

It is set in a plantation house on the Mississippi Delta where the Pollitt family celebrates the 65th birthday of Big Daddy, played by Steve Drowley, as they sentimentally dub him.

The mood is sombre, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: greed, sins of the past and desperate, clawing hopes for the future spar with one another as the knowledge that Big Daddy is dying slowly makes the rounds.

Maggie, played by Cardiff actress Ellie Hoare, Big Daddy’s daughter-in-law, wants to give him the news that she’s finally become pregnant by his favourite son, Brick, played by James Symonds.

But Brick won’t cooperate in Maggie’s plans and prefers to stay in a mild alcoholic haze the entire length of his visit.

Maggie has her own interests at heart in wanting to become pregnant, of course, but she also wants to make amends to Brick for an error in judgment which nearly cost her marriage.

Swarming around Maggie and Brick are their intrusive, conniving relatives, all eager to see Maggie put in her place and Brick tumbled from his position of most-beloved son.

By evening’s end, Maggie’s ingenuity, fortitude and passion will set things right, and Brick’s love for his father, never before expressed, will retrieve him from his path of destruction and return him, helplessly, to Maggie’s loving arms.

Director Steve Bissex Williams said: “Newport Playgoers returns to this timeless classic since its meaning is as relevant today as it was when it was first written nearly 70 years ago.

"This strong cast of experienced actors led by Ellie Hoare, James Symonds, Steve Drowley, Catherine Roberts, Liz Keech and Nick Brimble supported by Phil Davies, Jase Kilby and Rob Jacob bring to life this significant piece of art.”

For tickets go to www.dolmantheatre.co.uk