"This is pure delight! ... [The performers] bring great skill and imagination to the way in which they suggest all their characters but these are not just individual creations, this is truly the work of an ensemble. This is a production that deserves a long stay in the Unicorn's repertoire. " - Howard Loxton, The British Theatre Guide. Click here for the full review
The Cat Who Ran was the third production to feature the Unicorn Ensemble, running from 12th February to 8th March 2009.
Rehearsed in just two weeks, we had to wait until the show had opened to to put a few questions to David about the process...Q: So... The Cat Who Ran...?
A: Yeah. Well sort of. I mean, he does run - we're not telling fibs -
but a lot of other things happen to him before that.
The Cat Who Eventually Ran?
(laughs) You could say that! Actually it's as much about a fish as a cat...
Sworn enemies, then?
You might be surprised. I don't think it's giving too much away to tell you that the fish and Ran -
- The Fish Ran?
No, the cat is called "Ran".
So he doesn't actually run
Yeah, he does. But he's also called "Ran". It's not as confusing as it sounds. Honest.
And the fish is called...
"The Fish". That's his name. I think we're getting a bit bogged down here.
There are lots of characters in the play - all of them from the natural world - and they all witness different parts of
the story between Ran and The Fish. Ultimately, it's all about the nature of identity, independence, friendship and sacrifice.
Wow.
It's not Disney.
It doesn't sound like it... You wrote the music too?
That's right - It's a mix of recorded tracks, live percussion and a capella singing.
I started out with a pretty good grasp of the ensemble's musical strengths, having worked with them
over 5 months - which proved absolutely vital to being able to get the music together within a short space of time.
Presumably, you wrote the music before rehearsals began?
No - because we worked very fluidly with the english translation of the original Japanese script, it
wasn't clear in advance where we were going to want to put live or recorded music. Actually, I wrote one song in advance that
Tony (the director) and I definitely thought we'd need - but we ended up cutting this completely!
So the process was very much about responding to what the performers came up with in the rehearsal room, and
composing in the evenings. Of course, Tony & I discussed at some length what qualities the music needed to bring to the production
and what kind of instrumentation would belong to the play, so I had a very clear idea of the palette I would draw from.
And during rehearsals we came up with a huge variety of characterisations for the 20 or so characters (my colleagues are a very talented bunch!),
so there's a lot of variety in the music to reflect that too!
And the age range?
It's targetted at 5-8 yr olds, although we've had quite a few unaccompanied adults already, and they seem to love it!
The Cat Who Ran closed on 8th March 2009. The Unicorn Ensemble's next production is Twelfth Night.
Cast & Creative Team:
John Cockerill
Samantha Adams
Amit Sharma
David Smith
Director: Tony Graham
Assistant Director: Amit Sharma
Set & Lighting Design: Adam Carrée
Costume Design: Mark Jones
Music & Sound Design: David Smith
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