Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (19 page)

BIG MAMA:

BRICK! Come here, Brick, I need you.

[
Thunder distantly.

[
Children whimper, off L Mae consoles them.
Brick X to R of Big Mama.
]

BIG MAMA:

Tonight Brick looks like he used to look when he was a little boy, just like he did
when he played wild games in the orchard back of the house and used to come home
when I hollered myself hoarse for him! all—sweaty—and
pink-cheeked—an’ sleepy with his curls
shinin'—

[
Thunder distantly.

[
Children whimper, off L Mae consoles them.
Dog howls, off.
]

Time goes by so fast. Nothin’ can outrun it. Death commences too
early—almost before you're half-acquainted with life—you
meet with the other. Oh, you know we just got to love each other, an’ stay
together all of us just as close as we can, specially now that such a
black
thing has come and moved into this place without
invitation.

[
Dog howls, off.
]

Oh, Brick, son of Big Daddy, Big Daddy does so love you. Y'know
what would be his fondest dream come true? If before he passed on, if Big
Daddy has to pass on . . .

[
Dog howls, off.
]

You give him a child of yours, a grandson as much like his son as his
son is like Big Daddy. . . .

MARGARET:

I know that's Big Daddy's dream.

BIG MAMA:

That's his dream.

BIG DADDY [
off DR
on gallery
]:

Looks like the wind was takin’ liberties with this place.

[
Lacey appears UL, X to UC in lawn area;
Brightie and Small appear UR on lawn. Big Daddy X onto the UR
gallery.
]

LACEY:

Evenin’, Mr. Pollitt.

BRIGHTIE
and
SMALL:

Evenin’, Cap'n. Hello, Cap'n.

MARGARET
[
X to R
door
]:

Big Daddy's on the gall'ry.

BIG DADDY:

Stawm crossed th’ river, Lacey?

LACEY:

Gone to Arkansas, Cap'n.

[
Big Mama has turned toward the hall door at
the sound of Big Daddy's voice on the gallery. Now she X's DSR and
out the DS door onto the gallery.
]

BIG MAMA:

I can't stay here. He'll see somethin’ in my eyes.

BIG DADDY
[
on
upper gallery, to the boys
]:

Stawm done any damage around here?

BRIGHTIE:

Took the po'ch off ole Aunt Crawley's house.

BIG DADDY:

Ole Aunt Crawley should of been settin’ on it. It's time fo’
th’ wind to blow that ole girl away!

[
Field hands laugh, exit, UR. Big Daddy
enters room, UC, hall door.
]

Can I come in?

[
Puts his cigar in ash tray on
bar.

[
Mae and Gooper hurry along the upper
gallery and stand behind Big Daddy in hall door.
]

MARGARET:

Did the storm wake you up, Big Daddy?

BIG DADDY:

Which stawm are you talkin’ about—th’ one outside or th’
hullaballoo in here?

[
Gooper squeezes past Big
Daddy.
]

GOOPER
[
X toward
bed, where legal papers are strewn
]:

‘Scuse me, sir . . .

[
Mae tries to squeeze past Big Daddy to join
Gooper, but Big Daddy puts his arm firmly around her.
]

BIG DADDY:

I heard some mighty loud talk. Sounded like somethin’ important was
bein’ discussed. What was the powwow about?

MAE [
flustered
]:

Why—nothin’, Big Daddy . . .

BIG DADDY
[
XDLC,
taking Mae with him
]:

What is that pregnant-lookin’ envelope you're puttin’
back in your briefcase, Gooper?

GOOPER
[
at foot
of bed, caught, as he stuffs papers into envelope
]:

That? Nothin’, suh—nothin’ much of anythin’ at all
. . .

BIG DADDY:

Nothin'? It looks like a whole lot of nothing!

[
Turns US to group:
]

You all know th’ story about th’ young married
couple—

GOOPER:

Yes, sir!

BIG DADDY:

Hello, Brick—

BRICK:

Hello, Big Daddy.

[
The group is arranged in a semicircle above
Big Daddy, Margaret at the extreme R, then Mae and Gooper, then Big Mama, with
Brick at L.
]

BIG DADDY:

Young married couple took Junior out to th’ zoo one Sunday, inspected all of
God's creatures in their cages, with satisfaction.

GOOPER:

Satisfaction.

BIG DADDY [
XUSC,
face front
]:

This afternoon was a warm afternoon in spring an’ that ole elephant had
somethin’ else on his mind which was bigger'n peanuts. You know this
story, Brick?

[
Gooper nods.
]

BRICK:

No, sir, I don't know it.

BIG DADDY:

Y'see, in th’ cage adjoinin’ they was a young female elephant in
heat!

BIG MAMA
[
at Big
Daddy's shoulder
]:

Oh, Big Daddy!

BIG DADDY:

What's the matter, preacher's gone, ain't he? All right.
That female elephant in the next cage was permeatin’ the atmosphere about her
with a powerful and excitin’ odor of female fertility! Huh!
Ain't that a nice way to put it, Brick?

BRICK:

Yes, sir, nothin’ wrong with it.

BIG DADDY:

Brick says the's nothin’ wrong with it!

BIG MAMA:

Oh, Big Daddy!

BIG DADDY
[
XDSC
]:

So this ole bull elephant still had a couple of fornications left in him. He reared
back his trunk an’ got a whiff of that elephant lady next
door!—began to paw at the dirt in his cage an’ butt his head
against the separatin’ partition and, first thing y'know, there was a
conspicuous change in his
profile
—very
conspicuous!
Ain't I tellin’ this
story in decent language, Brick?

BRICK:

Yes, sir, too ruttin’ decent!

BIG DADDY:

So, the little boy pointed at it and said, “What's that?”
His Mam said, “Oh, that's—nothin'!"—His
Papa said, “She's spoiled!”

[
Field-hands sing off R, featuring
Sookey: “I Just Can't Stay Here by Myself,” through
following scene.

[
Big Daddy X to Brick at
L.
]

BIG DADDY:

You didn't laugh at that story, Brick.

[
Big Mama X DRC crying. Margaret goes to
her. Mae and Gooper hold URC.
]

BRICK:

No, sir, I didn't laugh at that story.

[
On the lower gallery, Big Mama sobs. Big
Daddy looks toward her.
]

BIG DADDY:

What's wrong with that long, thin woman over there, loaded with
diamonds? Hey, what's-your-name, what's the
matter with you?

MARGARET
[
X
toward Big Daddy
]:

She had a slight dizzy spell, Big Daddy.

BIG DADDY
[
ULC
]:

You better watch that, Big Mama. A stroke is a bad way to go.

MARGARET
[
X to
Big Daddy at
C
]:

Oh, Brick, Big Daddy has on your birthday present to him, Brick, he has on your
cashmere robe, the softest material I have ever felt.

BIG DADDY:

Yeah, this is my soft birthday, Maggie. . . .

Not my gold or my silver birthday, but my soft birthday,
everything's got to be soft for Big Daddy on this soft birthday.

[
Maggie kneels before Big Daddy C. As Gooper
and Mae speak, Big Mama X USRC in front of them, hushing them with a
gesture.
]

GOOPER:

Maggie, I hate to make such a crude observation, but there is somethin’ a
little indecent about your—

MAE:

Like a slow-motion football tackle—

MARGARET:

Big Daddy's got on his Chinese slippers that I gave him, Brick. Big Daddy, I
haven't given you my big present yet, but now
I will,
now's the time for me to present it to you! I have an announcement to
make!

MAE:

What? What kind of announcement?

GOOPER:

A sports announcement, Maggie?

MARGARET:

Announcement of life beginning! A child is coming, sired by Brick, and out of
Maggie the Cat! I have Brick's child in my body, an’
that's my birthday present to Big Daddy on this birthday!

[
Big Daddy looks at Brick who X behind Big
Daddy to DS portal, L.
]

BIG DADDY:

Get up, girl, get up off your knees, girl.

[
Big Daddy helps Margaret rise. He X above
her, to her R, bites off the end of a fresh cigar, taken from his bathrobe
pocket, as he studies Margaret.
]

Uh-huh, this girl has life in her body,
that's no lie!

BIG MAMA:

BIG DADDY'S DREAM COME TRUE!

BRICK:

JESUS!

BIG DADDY
[
X R
below wicker seat
]:

Gooper, I want my lawyer in the mornin’.

BRICK:

Where are you goin’, Big Daddy?

BIG DADDY:

Son, I'm goin’ up on the roof to the belvedere on th’ roof to
look over my kingdom before I give up my kingdom—twenty-eight thousand
acres of th’ richest land this side of the Valley Nile!

[
Exit through R doors, and DR on
gallery.
]

BIG MAMA
[
following
]:

Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart—can I come with you?

[
Exits DR.

[
Margaret is DSC in mirror
area.
]

GOOPER
[
X to
bar
]:

Brick, could you possibly spare me one small shot of that liquor?

BRICK
[
DLC
]:

Why, help yourself, Gooper boy.

GOOPER:

I will.

MAE
[
X
forward
]:

Of course we know that this is a lie!

GOOPER
[
drinks
]:

Be still, Mae!

MAE
[
X to Gooper
at bar
]:

I won't be still! I know she's made this up!

GOOPER:

God damn it, I said to shut up!

MAE:

That woman isn't pregnant!

GOOPER:

Who said she was?

MAE:

She did!

GOOPER:

The doctor didn't. Doc Baugh didn't.

MARGARET
[
X R to
above couch
]:

I haven't gone to Doc Baugh.

GOOPER
[
X through
to L of Margaret
]:

Then who'd you go to, Maggie?

[
Offstage song finishes.
]

MARGARET:

One of the best gynecologists in the South.

GOOPER:

Uh-huh, I see—

[
Foot on end of couch, trapping
Margaret:
]

May we have his name please?

MARGARET:

No, you may not, Mister—Prosecutin’ Attorney!

MAE
[
X to R of
Margaret, above
]:

He doesn't have any name, he doesn't exist!

MARGARET:

He does so exist, and so does my baby, Brick's baby!

MAE:

You can't conceive a child by a man that won't sleep with you unless
you think you're—

[
Forces Margaret onto couch, turns away
C.

[
Brick starts C for Mae.
]

He drinks all the time to be able to tolerate you! Sleeps on the
sofa to keep out of contact with you!

GOOPER
[
X above
Margaret, who lies face down on couch
]:

Don't try to kid us, Margaret—

MAE
[
X to bed, L
side, rumpling pillows
]:

How can you conceive a child by a man that won't sleep with you? How
can you conceive? How can you? How can you!

GOOPER
[
sharply
]:

MAE!

BRICK
[
X below
Mae to her R, takes hold of her
]:

Mae, Sister Woman, how d'you know that I don't sleep with
Maggie?

MAE:

We occupy the next room an’ th’ wall between isn't
soundproof.

BRICK:

Oh . . .

MAE:

We hear the nightly pleadin’ and the nightly refusal. So don't imagine
you're goin’ t'put a trick over on us, to fool a dyin’
man with—a—

BRICK:

Mae, Sister Woman, not everybody makes much noise about love. Oh, I know some people
are huffers an’ puffers, but others are silent lovers.

GOOPER
[
behind
seat, R
]:

This talk is pointless, completely.

BRICK:

How d'y'know that we're not silent lovers?

Even if y'got a peep-hole drilled in the wall, how can
y'tell if sometime when Gooper's got business in Memphis an’
you're playin’ scrabble at the country club with other
ex-queens of cotton, Maggie and I don't come to some temporary
agreement? How do you know that—?