It might be the dead of winter in Melbourne at the moment, but if there’s one playwright who can promise you a sweltering night of drama, it’s Tennessee Williams.

Next week sees the revival of what is arguably Williams’ sultriest play; the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Set over the course of one long summer evening on a family estate in Mississippi, it tells the story of a Southern family gathering to celebrate the 65th birthday of brash plantation owner, ‘Big Daddy’ Pollitt. A previous close encounter with death has left Big Daddy feeling more alive and obnoxious than ever; oblivious that he is actually dying, the secret kept from him by his doctors and family. As the sun slowly sets and the highballs are poured, a few more family truths are revealed, accompanied by a steady stream of relatives, each hoping for a share of Big Daddy’s assets.

Originally opening on Broadway in 1955, the play reached audiences worldwide in 1958, thanks to the bowdlerised MGM film starring Paul Newman as the withdrawn Brick, and Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie. The play’s then-daring exploration of Brick’s homosexuality, and his love for his dead friend, Skipper, was abandoned due to the restrictive censorship of the Hays Code, as explored in The Celluloid Closet; and resulting in a film which Williams himself famously hated.

Tasmanian-born Essie Davis, soon to be seen opposite Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in Baz Luhrmann’s forthcoming big-screen epic Australia, will star as Williams’ desperate, lonely heroine Maggie in this new MTC production. Davies is no stranger to Tennessee Williams, having earned an Olivier Award for her performance as Stella in Trevor Nunn’s 2003 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire at London’s National Theatre.

Directed by former MTC associate director Gale Edwards, from next week audiences will be able to see for themselves how the play’s themes of mendacity, masculinity and repressed sexuality stand up in 2008. Soaked in heat, lust and liquor, it should come as a welcome relief to a Melbourne winter’s night.

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