Cheshire Cats

On Saturday 20th July, I was delighted to attend the latest offering by St Anne’s Parish Operatic Society, ‘Cheshire Cats’, written by Gail Young and directed by Paula Curtis.

‘Cheshire Cats’ is a heartwarming and humorous play that follows a group of women as they prepare to participate in the Moonwalk, a charity event in London where participants walk through the night in decorated bras to raise funds for breast cancer research. The play centres on five women—Hilary, Vicky, Siobhan, Yvonne, and Maggie—who call themselves the 'Cheshire Cats’. As the women train for the event, the play delves into their lives, relationships, and personal struggles. Each character brings their own quirks, insecurities, and motivations, leading to moments of both comedy and poignancy. 

The journey to the event is marked by ups and downs, including physical and emotional challenges, but the women's camaraderie and determination shine through. As they walk through London, they confront not only the physical demands of the walk but also their own fears and insecurities.

‘Cheshire Cats’ is ultimately a celebration of friendship, resilience, and the power of coming together for a cause. It’s a touching tribute to those affected by cancer, balanced with light-hearted moments that highlight the strength and humour found in female friendships.

This is a somewhat slow and gentle play, which the audience clearly got on board with early in the performance. Some elements of the script itself lacked finesse but any shortcomings in the writing were well off-set by a talented and hard-working cast of players. The actors gave us energetic and lively performances throughout, which kept the audience interested in and intrigued by the action on stage.

For me, ‘Cheshire Cats’ is a play that has a somewhat slow start, and Act One is quite dialogue and exposition heavy. Lots of characters are introduced to the audience, and there is a great deal of scene-setting, which makes it quite slow paced. However, this is not the case in the three following acts, which have a much snappier pace and feature dialogue which is better crafted for the audience’s entertainment. This pace was well supported by SAPOS’ approach to scene transitions, which were well-rehearsed and uniformly quick, meaning there were very few moments in which the audience were sat waiting in the dark!

In terms of the acting performances, I was pleased to see consistently engaging and well-realised characters on stage. The five core characters were played with a great sense of camaraderie and energy by Paula Curtis (Vicky), Gillian Briggs (Maggie), Lindsay Clarke (Hilary), Lynda Hindle (Siobhan) and Suzi McQuiggan (Yvonne). They were the glue which held the piece together and it wasn’t difficult for the audience to get behind them. As a group of performers, they were able to sell the concept of the play to the audience, and were believable as a merry band of friends who had the bit between their teeth and were determined to succeed, in honour of their friend, Carol, who they lost to cancer.

The cohort of lead performers were very ably backed by an accomplished cast of supporting characters, played enthusiastically by Andrew Would, Sarah Linton, Alison Thornton, Susan Walker, John Gill, Mac Curtis, Leanne Phillips, Sharon Devlin, Gill Drinkwater, Eva Phillips and Bryan Wood. There were no noticeable weak links in this cast, and all members worked together effectively to breathe life into the script and take the characters from page to stage.

‘Cheshire Cats’ was directed with confidence and flair by Paula Curtis, who had clearly rehearsed her cast well and had a clear vision of what she wanted to achieve. Her production favoured simplicity wherever possible and this was very much to the benefit of the play. Action was sharp and concise wherever the script allowed and the director utilised her talented cast well.

The set of ‘Cheshire Cats’ was the epitome of simple and effective, and SAPOS made the wise choice to prioritise symbolic set and props over intricate, photo-realistic builds. Since each act of the play had a completely different setting, this was absolutely the right choice for the production. I’m always endlessly impressed by just how effective a handful of chairs can be on stage, when put to good use. They allowed for snappy set changes and creative staging, with their inherent flexibility. Wardrobe by Paula Curtis was, again simple, well thought out and highly effective. Muted tones were the order of the day in Acts One and Two but when Act Three started and we were transported to the heart of London for the Moonwalk itself, the costumes provided a welcome burst of neon colour on stage, which was perfect for the action.

Lighting for this production was by Annie Follet, whose work I have both seen and been impressed with previously. It’s clear that she has a keen understanding of her craft and was able to add a great deal of value to the piece with her creative and conscientious work.

Sound was by Mac Curtis and was well-designed, atmospheric and not overwhelming or intrusive. As with Annie Follet’s lighting, the sound added value to the piece, without dominating the audience experience.

Following the interval, the choice by the director to have the aerobics instructor, played by Sarah Linton, come through the auditorium in a flurry of noise and energy, and break the fourth wall by involving the audience in the cast’s pre-walk warm-up, was an excellent one. It meant that Act Three began in an upbeat and highly-entertaining fashion, which the audience clearly loved. However, unfortunately some audience members struggled to settle themselves down and adhere to the unwritten rules of positive audience behaviour. Whilst their talking was a distraction to other audience members, if the cast noticed it, they certainly didn’t allow it to disrupt their focus. Not an easy task but one which the performers achieved with apparent ease!

The show ended with a collection for Trinity Hospice, which given the theme of the play itself, felt like a hugely appropriate and generous touch. To have the actors moving through the audience with collection buckets, whilst still in character and happily chatting, was a lovely way in which to bring the performance to a close.

In a new, semi-regular feature of my show reports, I have asked for a few words from my nine-year-old daughter, Lyra, who accompanied me to the performance of ‘Cheshire Cats’. This is what she had to say:

“I think it was a great push for all types of people to start their own walking group\club. I just want to say thank you because you inspired me to start my own walking club called ‘THE EXPLORERS’ so just a big thank you for putting all your hard work into your show. I loved your use of the play for the charity.”

Thanks to everyone at SAPOS for inviting us to their performance of ‘Cheshire Cats’, and congratulations to all involved for an entertaining and heart-warming afternoon at the theatre. I look forward to my next visit!

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.