Usually when asked about a theme, I look vague and say, It is a play about life. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , Brick s big issue is 'mendacity' which includes his greedy brother, the church, the luncheon clubs, and his wife's craving to have a baby. Liquor is one way out an' death's the other. Time is what erodes Williams characters. It is time that destroys them.
Failure happens only because their time to succeed runs out.
The third act that you see in this production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is not the one that Tennessee Williams originally wrote for his play. There were two more third acts written prior to the first New York performance. Williams knew that he wanted renowned director Elia Kazan to work on his show, and realized when he took the draft to Kazan, that changes would most likely be made. In a note of explanation, Williams discusses Kazan s reservations about the third act. First of all, he felt that Big Daddy was too important to completely disappear in the third act, as he did in the original.