“I don’t mind being the symbol of your decadence. That doesn’t mean, that you own me.”
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Free Theatre presents The Cat Eleonore, the first English language translation and production of the award winning play by Caren Jess.
Eleonore is a 40 year old real estate agent who one day realises that she is actually a cat. Financially independent and single, nothing stands in the way of her transformation. She has a cat-fur sewn for her and gradually cuts herself off from human social contacts. In conversations with Dr. Wildbruch, a therapist who is fascinated by her case, it becomes clear that Eleonore’s thinking and feeling also increasingly resembles that of a cat. Playwright Caren Jess won the Mülheimer Dramatikpreis and the Mülheimer Theatertage Audience Award for the play in 2023. Text by Caren Jess Translated and Directed by Peter Falkenberg Performed and Produced by Marian McCurdy Set, Lighting and Film by Stuart Lloyd-Harris Performances: Wednesday 7th May 7.30pm Thursday 8th May 7.30pm Friday 9th May 7.30pm Saturday 10th May 7.30pm *themes suitable for a mature audience |
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Eleonore’s Bar is open from 7.00pm prior to the performance for ticket holders only. Location: Free Theatre @ Climate Action Campus Tickets: $20/$30 Bookings Essential: https://events.humanitix.com/the-cat-eleonore For media enquiries and interview requests contact Marian McCurdy [email protected] / 021 025 61384 Performing Rights S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; © Presented with the support of Creative Communities. Audience responseThanks for a great show tonight, loved it. Loved it, funny, poignant, thought provoking. Totally held me. Thanks so much for a thoroughly entertaining performance last night. Sue and I enjoyed every minute of it. Beautiful compelling work. It started to feel like the whole thing kind of shared thought inside Eleonore's head, rather than something I was watching. It was so entertaining and what I really liked is both the visual and the verbal connected to make it really coherent and quirky. Brilliant performance! |
ReviewsWe might sometimes wonder what it might be like to inhabit a different body, to think like a different species, to be divorced from the fate of the body we have. McCurdy’s performance of Eleonore gives us access to these questions which are not easy to ask, let alone navigate. 
McCurdy and director Peter Falkenberg have created a simply choreographed piece, rich with gesture, vocal character play, and driving themes of identity and human-hating. McCurdy is an engaging presence, easily dropping in and out of the anger/hate that runs as an undercurrent through Eleonore’s being, and creating comic moments through her depictions of the humans in her life. Congratulations ! We were impressed with your stirling performance and I'm sure Caren Jess would have been thrillled if she could see it and hear the translation. Loved the show. Thank you. |
