Temperatures Are Rising

Tennessee Williams' feverish classic arrives at the Apollo Theater with Sienna Miller and Jack O'Connell leading the cast. The first Young Vic production to debut on the West End, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is helmed by acclaimed director Benedict Andrews. Renowned for discarding fussy sets and costumes in favour of stark, claustrophobic stages that ratchet up a work's intensity, his previous work for the Young Vic includes directing Gillian Anderson in 2014's A Streetcar Named Desire.

In Miller and O'Connell, this production has a pair easily capable of matching Andrews' energy. Not seen on the London stage in six years, Miller's reputation as an actor is steadily on the rise, following her acclaimed turns on screen in American Sniper and High-Rise. Bafta winner Jack O'Connell burst onto the scene with his bruising performance in the prison drama Starred Up, and has previously starred on stage in The Nap at Sheffield's Crucible Theater.

What is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof About?

It's plantation owner Big Daddy's birthday, and his family gather around him at his estate in Mississippi to celebrate. Among them is his son Brick, a failed football star, and his ambitious wife Maggie. She's worked her a way up from a life of poverty, and is determined to gain control of the family estate once the ailing Big Daddy passes on. Yet, to her astonishment, her husband seems indifferent to their future plans, and lets his brother Gooper move into pole position to land the sizeable inheritance.

As tensions between Brick and Maggie escalate, the birthday party turns sour, and becomes a simmering cauldron of resentment, back-biting and accusations.