This July, Harvest Rain Theatre Company will present it's revamped and modern take on Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, 'Cats'.
“It's going to be a spectacle,” says Callum Mansfield. The experienced choreographer has been working with a cast of over 800 people to perfect the performance which has proved to be the largest rendition of 'Cats' ever to be performed in the Southern Hemisphere.
"I think the fact that there's so many people involved is a big deal. Not just that but the collaboration of professional artists with students and kids as well. I think that's really exciting from them to have the opportunity to perform alongside Marina Prior and the professional cast we've got. I think I'm looking forward to seeing that all come together because it's been like a big jigsaw puzzle to organise."
According to Mansfield, Harvest Rain’s production of 'Cats' will be far from predictable and he thinks audiences with preconceived notions of what to expect will be promptly put in their place.
“I'm hoping to blow them out of the water with our new approach to it. We're re-doing all the choreography and we're going back to the text in the script."
'Cats' is based on a book of poems by writer TS Elliot and Mansfield says these poems formed the basis for the Harvest Rain production.
"We're going back to those poems and we're sort of re-inventing the wheel and re-creating from the ground up. All the costumes and even the design is different. Usually it's knitted leg warmers and very ’80s with arm bands and all that stuff. We've got real-looking fur on all 800 cats and we've gone for an entirely different look. Others have usually been based on the original chorography and they're usually set in a junk yard.”
Of course audiences can still expect to hear the signature tunes that many know and love. Mansfield suggests that rather than changing the production, they are simply giving it new life. “I feel that ‘Cats’ is dated. It’s a little dated in its choreography and its design so we want to make it more entertaining for a modern audience. One of the characters Rum Tum Tugger that's usually performed like Elvis, instead I've been pushing him towards more of a younger pop star like Bieber or Harry Styles. We're really going for more of a modern approach to our show so that the audience can connect with it.” The acclaimed choreographer has worked with Harvest Rain in the past and says it's the passion of the company that he owes his return to.
“People aren't just working for their pay check at the end of the day. They're working for love. I enjoy working for them because I love to inspire young people and create something new. They always try and stage something as though it was being created for the first time. They work really hard at fuelling the shows and fuelling the training with passion rather than pay checks and I think that makes a big difference,” says Mansfield.
Mansfield confides that the production is close to his heart as it was the first musical he worked on and he has drawn inspiration from his past work.
“I choreographed ‘Cats’ seven years ago when I was only 18. I look back on that choreography now and I think that there's something as a young person where you haven’t quite learned how it feels to fall and fail so you think that you're actually limitless. I think that's really some of the best choreography I've done because I felt so limitless and I wasn't worried about what people think. I just went 'well this is what a cat would do' and just did it like that. So I've gone back to that choreography from seven years ago and it's inspired me in a way to just reach for the stars and choreograph like there are no limits.”
'Cats' will be staged at the Brisbane Convention Centre from July 4-6.
– written by Lexi McKee
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