Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Kitten is the story of loss, of grief, of a woman spiralling out of control and falling into the abyss. Kitten has lost her husband Jonah to the sea, and his body has not been found. The character of Kitten is played by three women simultaneously and the play is divided into three parts, in which each woman embodies different aspects of Kitten and the many different emotions associated with trauma – fear, anger, disbelief, exhilaration. There is also Manfred, Jonah’s best friend who is clearly in love with Kitten, trying in his quiet way to bring Kitten back down to earth before she hurts herself even more.

Courtesy of the Juniper Gallery, Toni Frissell, The Lady in the Water, 1947

This piece is visually stunning. As the audience walks into the theatre, the stage is set up with a haunting blue light and there is a layer of black mesh across the front of the stage, evoking a cage under the sea. The actors come out onto the stage and stand or crouch in tableau where they remain as the opening lines are spoken. This very strong beginning is disorienting for the audience as the dim light means we do not know who is speaking or what their relationship is with each other. The mood of confusion and fear infects the audience as we become anxious to find out exactly what is happening.

In the second part of the piece, the black mesh rises and the lights become very bright to reveal an entirely white tiled set, broken up only by a whiteboard on the back wall. This dumps us heavily in the bright light of ‘reality’ from the misty quality of the previous scene.

The final scene is wonderful and dream-like, as the audience is surprised and delighted by a furry polar bear and silver fish. The stage is bathed in muted, dreamy colours. The beginning of this part is delightful and brings a much-needed abrupt change in mood. It was a brave choice and it works. 

The movement from all four actors throughout the piece is beautifully choreographed to reflect the confusion of Kitten’s inner thoughts. The female actors are focused and deliberate in their movements, whether it be pacing, standing or sitting on a chair or writing on a blackboard. Seeing them all together on stage lost in their own worlds and not interacting with each other at all emphasizes how Kitten has lost all self-awareness. The three of them together brilliantly portray a woman who has completely lost control.

The performances of all four actors are strong, in particular Natasha Herbert and Margaret Mills. Their energy and charisma really carries the piece. Christopher Connelly, who plays Manfred, is quiet and subtle which is necessary for the “Kittens” to play off, but unfortunately at times he loses energy because of this. He does have a well-delivered monologue about his love for Kitten and his relationship with Jonah. This works in part because he does not have to share the audience’s attention with any of the Kittens. Kate Kendall plays a much more subdued, haunted Kitten who breaks up the piece with her beautiful, emotional singing. The audience needs her Kitten as three emotionally charged, vocal Kittens would make the work very difficult to watch.

I definitely recommend Kitten for its many very strong points. However, there are many parts that just do not work at all. The overall feeling of the piece is that it needs to be ruthlessly streamlined to create a much more powerful, concise work. I believe it could be cut by a quarter to a third. Each of the three scenes goes on too long. The first part is very intense and the strong emotions are portrayed well but by the end of the scene it loses its impact and unfortunately becomes a bit tiresome. Kitten seemingly addresses the audience during this scene and says “You think I am making too much of this”, and well yes, we do by the end!

My biggest problem with Kitten is the ending. After the wonderfully surreal beginning to the third part, Kitten finds her voice. Kate Kendall sings some very haunting melodies scattered throughout the first two parts of the piece which are very effective at breaking up the action and stirring up emotions in the audience. When she starts singing in the last scene it is no exception. This beautiful, powerful climax would work so well if it was followed by the ending, which comes full circle as Kitten prepares to return home to Manfred’s “bacon and eggs”. However, with the many, many songs that are sung in between, I begin to feel like I have somehow wandered by mistake into the concert of a female singer-songwriter gone wrong. Kate Kendall can definitely sing, but it starts to feel a bit like they are just trying to show off her voice, and the piece gets completely lost here. The songs no longer reflect Kitten’s state of mind but are just poppy ditties that sound quite good but don’t really add anything at all. The audience becomes restless and the power of the ending is lost.

Despite this, Kitten is brave, powerfully performed and surprisingly funny. Its strong moments make it worth seeing but it is a shame that Jenny Kemp’s vision just isn’t quite all it could be.

Visit Kitten’s Festival webpage for more information including performance details.