plays

1. Excerpt from a play written for an English assignment (an extension of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof") (2023)

 

      [Mid-morning. BIG DADDY and BIG MAMA are in the sitting room. BIG DADDY is sitting in an aged brown armchair with a table to its side and a teacup and saucer resting on it. BIG MAMA is sitting across from him, perched on the edge of a sofa in the way of an anxious person pretending they are not. She keeps glancing at BIG DADDY and then looking away before glancing back—she is obviously thinking a lot of words. BIG DADDY notices her thinking but says nothing, pretending he notices nothing. There is a low, simple wooden coffee table between them. They sit in brittle silence until BIG MAMA finally moves to break it.]

 

BIG MAMA: Big Daddy, I don’t—

 

   [She is immediately silenced by GOOPER wandering into the sitting room. He is dressed in a robe and holding a teacup. He makes straight for and sits in the other free armchair beside BIG DADDY, diagonal from BIG MAMA. The silence returns for another brief moment.]

 

GOOPER: You was sayin’ somethin’, Big Mama?

 

BIG MAMA: Nothin’ so important.

 

GOOPER [hesitantly]: You mean, nothin’ you need me hearin’...

 

BIG MAMA [slowly growing upset]: Now, what’s this? Not my words from last night, is it? Oh, Gooper, that was not a real moment! I was upset, an’- an’ I wasn’t thinkin’ right!

 

GOOPER [tiredly]: No, Big Mama, I was just—

 

BIG DADDY: Quiet now.

 

      [Both BIG MAMA and GOOPER’s heads turn to BIG DADDY when he speaks and they instantly fall silent. There is the sound of a door shutting loudly somewhere else upstairs in the house followed by a short thunder of childish footsteps running downstairs. BIG DADDY sets down his teacup on the side table before speaking.]

 

BIG DADDY: So, here ya are, lookin’ so guilty. How come you wasn’t gonna tell me, huh?

 

GOOPER: I was gonna tell you—

 

BIG DADDY: No you wasn’t! And I won’t hear no lies today, no I won’t! Not today, an’ no other day! [As his speaking heats up, BIG DADDY is suddenly cut short with a twinge of pain. He shallowly suppresses a groan before relaxing further into the armchair.]

 

BIG MAMA [starting to get up]: Oh, Big Daddy, let me—

 

BIG DADDY: No, woman! I’m fine! If a little pain was gonna kill me, it’ve done it by now.

 

     [BIG MAMMA sits again, still anxious and on edge. She turns to address GOOPER before being immediately cut off again by MAE entering the sitting room.]

 

MAE [loudly over her shoulder, to someone offstage]: Yes, sweetie, Mama’ll help you in a sec’nd, I just gotta talk to your Daddy a minute. 

 

      [MAE quickly comes to stand behind/to the side of GOOPER, not acknowledging the others in the room.]

 

MAE: Nice to see you finally up, honey. Have you eaten yet? We really oughta be headin’ out in another hour or so… [noticing their company] Oh! Why, hello, Big Daddy, Mama. I musta missed you at breakfast. Gooper an’ the kids an’ me are headin’ back out to Memphis today, remember? And it's real work tryna get five kiddies all nice an’ orderly… [she trails off chuckling lightly.] How are you both doin’?

 

      [BIG DADDY grunts and looks away, unimpressed. BIG MAMA briefly looks at him, a type of early mourning already shining in her eyes. She bypasses this thought too before responding to MAE.]

 

BIG MAMMA: Oh, you know. We’re…

 

      [A loud “Mom!” is heard from offstage. MAE looks briefly relieved, glad to be escaping one situation only to realise it is to return to another.]

 

MAE [smiling semi-apologetically]: Oh, do excuse me. Yes, sweetheart, I’m comin’! And Gooper, dear… I could use you, please.

 

GOOPER: Yes, alright. Just let me talk with Big Daddy a minute.

 

      [MAE turns and makes her way to the exit. As she reaches the door, two more people arrive in the doorway: BRICK and MARGARET. Both are in sleepwear, and MARGARET is helping BRICK hobble on his cast. MAE stands to the side just inside of the sitting room while the couple manoeuvre their way through the doorway. MARGARET catches MAE looking darkly at her and has to quickly stow away her own smug smile. For a moment it seems as though MAE is instead going to stay in the room until there is another offstage “Mom!”]

 

MAE [looking squarely at MARGARET]: I’m comin’, I’m comin’, I told you I’m comin’!

 

      [MAE exits the room briskly.]

 

MARGARET [smiling very happily. She has an oddly refreshed feel to her air]: G’mornin’ Big Mama, Big Daddy. Gooper. 

 

      [BRICK has detached himself from leaning on MARGARET and is hobble-hopping his way over to a loveseat, the furthest from BIG DADDY and BIG MAMA, somewhat close to GOOPER. He crashes against it, getting comfortable, but refuses to look at or otherwise acknowledge the others in the room. It is clear that he is aware of their presence, but equally so, it is clear that he doesn’t care much for them.]

 

BIG MAMA [getting up]: Maggie, deary, good morning. [BIG MAMA hugs MARGARET. MARGARET obliges, still smiling.] How are you?

 

MARGARET [laughing lightly, playing into a role]: Oh, Big Mama, all this attention as if it’s been a year. I saw you all yesterday, didn’t I? 

 

      [Unexpectedly, BIG DADDY speaks before BIG MAMA can reply to MARGARET.]

 

BIG DADDY: Ida tells me you an’ Brick have been busy! [there is a specific mirth to his tone that is almost unnatural compared to his mood so far in the scene.] And all this long while, I’d been thinkin’—

 

MARGARET [still playing her role]: Oh, Big Daddy, stop it. Were you really expectin’ us to be so married an’ so childless fo’ever? It was jus’ a matter uh time, really.

 

     [GOOPER scoffs. BRICK has since shifted his position to be lying down across the loveseat with his arms acting as a pillow, crossed behind his head, and his legs thrown over the other armrest. He is lying with his eyes closed, mimicking peacefulness.]

 

GOOPER [coldly]: Mendacity has a smell, Sister Woman, an’ I reckon this Pollitt fam’ly could do with gittin’ they noses check’d.

 

MARGRET [feigning hurt]: Now, what’s all this that Mae’s bin puttin’ in your head?

 

GOOPER: Mae ain’t been sayin’ nothin’ more than I’ve been seein’, been hearin’ from the two of you when you think the walls are so thick.

 

BIG MAMA: Gooper, you was there last night and heard it you’self. Maggie is pregnant with Brick’s baby! And that’s the end of it! Can you not—

 

GOOPER: Is that all you heard last night? Nothin’ else worth your while?

 

      [BIG MAMA instantly pales, pausing her movement. She habitually looks over at BIG DADDY who—again, unexpectedly—is already looking right at her. BIG MAMA is quick to look away again. She says nothing, twirling her shawl between her fingers.]

 

GOOPER [increasingly tensely]: Big Daddy’s dyin’ and all you got goin’ on in your mind is an unborn kiddie. Who says Maggie the cat can carry a kiddie? Better yet, who says Maggie the cat ain’t lyin’ through her sharp lil’ teeth! Mendacity has a smell!

 

      [Right as he finishes speaking, as if nature was proving a point, BIG DADDY groans in pain again, clutching himself with his eyes clenched tight. BIG MAMA rushes over to BIG DADDY’s side and MARGARET follows though she keeps a slight distance. BRICK’s eyes open and trace MARGARET.]

 

GOOPER [quietly, hurriedly, as BIG MAMA and MARGARET are crossing the room]: Tell me I’m wrong, Brick. Better yet, tell me I’m right.

 

      [BRICK uncomfies himself, swinging his legs down and sitting upright on the loveseat, facing his brother.]

 

BIG MAMA [between GOOPER’s words and BRICK’s response]: Tell me how it hurts, Big Daddy? You needin’ more morphine?

 

     [BRICK contemplates the expensive rug beneath his cast-bound foot for a moment, and when he looks up at GOOPER, he smiles, part-sardonically and part-wistfully. He says nothing, but it’s his lack of words that GOOPER hears.]

 

GOOPER: Naw, you didn’t. ‘t’s not true.

 

BRICK [lowly]: If it’s not true, then tell me: what do my lies smell of?

 

     [In the background, BIG MAMA and BIG DADDY have been exchanging quiet words, BIG MAMA’s of concern and BIG DADDY’s of gruff indifference. At this point, when BRICK finishes speaking, he heaves himself unsteadily to his feet and manoeuvres himself, swinging along the furniture to the shelves of liquor in the corner of the room, his mind set. GOOPER sighs but does nothing. MARGARET also sees this.]

 

BIG MAMA [standing from kneeling beside BIG DADDY]: I’m gonna go get the medicine, alright, Big Daddy? You just hold tight.

 

      [BIG DADDY is in too much pain to respond. BIG MAMA swiftly exits the sitting room, her heels clicking on the hardwood. MARGARET trails after BRICK, standing beside him as he fixes himself a drink.]

 

MARGARET [playfully sweet, but with an undertone of pity]: A bit early still, ain’t it?

 

      [BRICK does not respond, only slightly clenches his jaw. MARGARET says nothing more, continuing to watch as BRICK pours whiskey over ice. When he raises the glass to his lips, MARGARET reaches out and puts her hand over the rim. BRICK turns only his head—on its side—to look at MARGARET, pleading; partly for her to let him do as he pleases, and partly for permission to drink himself into his familiar stupor. In his eyes is something briefly vulnerable, and when MARGARET catches a glimpse of it, her hand falls of its own accord from the glass and BRICK takes a sip.]