Theatre Now Sydney Review: Cats Talk Back

Felicity’s Score 2.5 stars

Cats Talk Back is comedic send-up of verbatim theatre, being performed at the New Theatre for Sydney Fringe, where the highlights of the show often do not occur on stage. Bess Wohl’s writing demands a strong interpretation in order to create a clear picture for the show, but unfortunately this one doesn’t hit the mark for me. 

Moderated by Sydney’s Jason Blake, the stage is set up as an interview of original cast members of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. This show takes a look at nostalgia held by former stars, and the way in which self obsession can lead to self delusion.

Sahn Millington’s design choice works, the simplistic interview setting allows for a more down-to-Earth realistic feel which means that ‘audience’ interaction can happen pretty seamlessly. The cats on the drink bottles is a nice touch. 

However, there seems to be a disjointed energy between the cast. On one hand, performances by cast members like Jodine Muir and Julian Ramundi create a satirical, but natural, feel that comes at odds with sudden outbursts or audible sobbing that happen. Then there are performances like David Woodland’s who owns the over the top nature of his character, that would have much more easily transitioned into the absurdity of spontaneous sobbing, but didn’t need to. Both approaches would perhaps work better in more synchronicity with each other.

Highlights include the abashed Muir bringing out a USB with music on it, a ‘cut’ Cats number performed by the ensemble, and Daniel Mulholland’s myriad of audience characters.

Cats Talk Back playing at New Theatre 9-14 September.

Felicity Anderson, Theatre Now