Daisy Edgar-Jones fails to grasp the darkness and depth in Tennessee Williams revival

Tennessee Williams’s landmark play opens with a long, drawn-out howl of pain. Frecknall’s previous takes on Williams’s plays were much-praised masterpieces of female subjectivity and neuroticism, with Patsy Ferran’s agile, highly strung charisma shining bright on hazy, dimly lit stages. open image in gallery Lennie James as Big Daddy She’s fuming because her sister-in-law’s “no-neck monster” children have spoiled her lace dress at her father-in-law’s birthday party – but really, it’s her husband Brick she’s angry at, for despising her too much to get her pregnant. Beautiful, because Big Daddy never descends to the homophobic fury you’d fear, his hatred of “mendacity” becoming a tacit disapproval of the society that’s forced Brick to lead a double life. Frecknall’s play runs long and slow at 180 minutes – and it feels unbalanced, too, with Maggie’s thin scenes outweighed by her husband’s bloated ones.