by Mick Brian
Photos by the “Where’s the Cat?” team
Within the walls of Devizes very own Wharf Theatre meets an eclectic group of script writers. And having written scripts and read them to each other, they wondered what to do next. So they recorded themselves performing these short radio-style plays and unleashed them on an unsuspecting world in the form of a podcast series. Having achieved this milestone the group pondered what to do next, and a live show seemed the next obvious step.
“Where’s The Cat? Live!” is a melange of short plays, written and performed as rehearsed readings by the group, with the assistance of a couple of Wharf actors and a very sound man on sound. The plays cover the main facets of life; comedy and tragedy, often both at the same time. There’s a trilogy of plays about a trio of friends who find themselves in unusual and inconvenient situations. There’s a play about spies, another about therapy, another in a dystopian future where the human race is reduced to two people and some pot snacks. We go to Heaven in one play, a driving test centre in another, and a funeral in another. We meet an AI doctor, a fairy tale protagonist, a magician, and a mother and son having a row. Essentially all human life is here, just not necessarily as we know it.
The writers themselves have varying degrees of performance experience. Some are familiar faces upon the Wharf’s boards and their stagecraft shows, whilst others seemed less at ease within the performance space. Whilst it is not necessarily a natural thing for writers to be performers also, the rehearsal process has coaxed the hidden actor out of them and it has been a privilege to watch them develop. The direction has been lead by Ali Warren, and a superb job she has done of it too, bringing these short pieces to life, and the group should be applauded for baring their souls and sharing their art with the public, which is no easy thing to do. The mixture of styles and substance is quite refreshing as one can pretty much guarantee there will be something that will stick with you from the evening.
“Where’s the Cat? Live!” plays for one night only and you’ll kick yourself if you miss it.
Tickets available from https://www.wharftheatre.co.uk/show/wheres-the-cat-wharf-writers-group/
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