The King of Cats

Writer: Oisin Robbins. Performer: Aron Hegarty. Run time: 14.30 mins.

 

“rumours of my death have been greatly overblown”

This fiery, brilliant, opening line sets the tone for King of Cats, a monologue that is delivered at full force from beginning to end. It is clear that the speaker is full of anger and his words are like spitting bullets. His first words are angry, furious poetry, delivered at speed. We soon realise the play is referencing Romeo and Juliet. The speaker is Tybalt, recently awoken after one month in a coma. Bit by bit the story unravels but from the off it is clear that others, friends and enemies alike, didn’t know he had survived, so his opening line is also his reintroduction back into the land of the living.

King of Cats takes a light and shines it on a part of Romeo and Juliet that is usually brushed over: the men feuding, fighting, killing and dying. There is an intricate web of revenge between the two houses and a pool of pain that remains even after Romeo has exited the picture. King of Cats is raw and visceral. Tybalt acknowledges he does not have the skills for peace but really, he also doesn’t have the desire for it either. When he talks about killing the rat (a nice Irish reference) his face contorts, teeth bared, rat like, manipulating his face to express his anger, distaste and thinking. Throughout he is drinking from a can and taking pain medication and over time we also start to see the passion, love and regret that lies beneath his words. This doesn’t however, dim the fire in his eyes. He calls himself the prince of cats, the man with nine lives, a title he ‘redeemed from mockery’, but will he settle with this or will he take the crown to become the king of cats, the great rat catcher.

His near-death experience only inflamed his anger and desire to seek vengeance. Tybalt is taking a certain amount of joy in his anger and bile, in preparing his revenge “dear Ben [Benvolio]. You’re a snitch yet I’m the one that got stitches”. He refuses Benvolio’s olive branch and plans to extend their feuding. They make use of voice notes and texts rather than letters, so act quickly on their feelings. This is fresher for Tybalt, newly awake. He can’t bear that he was beaten and one wonders if he is angry also at the world moving on around him while he lay in his hospital bed.

Several times see movement in the kitchen behind him. The two people, presumably his parents, are pottering about clearing up after dinner, under the bright glow of 100W bulbs. This helps to show how normal life continues, and did continue during Tybalt’s absence. In contrast he is sat outside alone in the dark. Some light from the kitchen filters through. There is a slight orange glow, which along with the light from his cigarette and his phone is the only light that hits him. One wonders if his parents inside know how Tybalt intends to spend his coming days?

This is a brilliant piece of lockdown theatre. The delivery is always on point and Hegarty fills the character with life. One couldn’t imagine anyone else taking on this role. This is enabled by the intricate story telling from Robbins. King of Cats is full of twists, turns, intrigue and drama, with echoes of the gangland stories we read in the papers and watch on TV. A 5* powerful tour de force piece of storytelling.

The Darkness Lurking Beneath: Romeo and Juliet | Sprint for Shakespeare

 

One of the most thumbed plays in the Bodleian’s copy of the first folio, which can now be found online, is Romeo and Juliet. But what is it about this tragedy that continues to resonate so powerfully across the centuries? Typically seen as an all consuming romance, the play concludes with the deaths of two star crossed lovers, who could see no future that involved themselves without the other by their side. It has undoubtedly cast a shadow over popular ides of romance since its first showing, with many of its key themes surviving in popular romantic culture today. From Jane Austen’s tales of confusion being righted in marriage to the appropriate person to nearly every Hollywood rom-com with it’s happily ever after.

However surely this is missing the key part, the tragedy that made this one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. The multiple deaths and suicides from Romeo and Juliet seem to have fallen by the wayside with most romances now ending with the wedding itself, cutting off the flow of blood before it has even begun. If you puncture the surface of Romeo and Juliet you can see the darkness lurking beneath. Even before you get to the high mortality rate of its characters the play throws up troubling questions about the difference between Elizabethan society and our own.

Starting with the question of age. It is repeated throughout the play that Juliet will shortly be 14 when her parents think she is ready to marry, but no age is ever given for either of Juliet’s potential suitors, Paris and Romeo. It is perfectly conceivable that they were older than her, possible even in their twenties or thirties, which shines a slightly different light on our star-crossed lovers. This is rounded off by the fact that Romeo and Juliet do not actually see each other properly until they are married. When they first meet they are wearing masks, then it is by moonlight for the infamous balcony scene, and then Juliet is hidden behind a veil as they marry. However when you then consider how little time they spend with each other during the play, this is perhaps less surprising.

The only modern production that I have seen that brought the darkness to light and juxtaposed it beautifully with the central love theme was Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad, performed by the Iraqi Theatre Company at the RSC last year. This version had an aging Paris as would-be suitor and although this Romeo knew his Juliet (and had certainly seen her before) the innocence is retained. They are not physically intimate, and rely on the language of passion and elevating of objects – a silken scarf that passes between them – to illustrate their feelings for each other.

Set in a background of a family feud in war-torn Baghdad, Romeo and Juliet’s delicate love story is heightened by the sharp contrast of the insecure, dangerous setting. This is further emphasized by the use of real gun shots which shook the audience out of their preconceptions and made one really aware of the danger lurking beneath if these two were to pursue their love affair. There is no elopement and suicide for this pair of star-crossed lovers, but instead a deadly bomb blast. They die together having been unable to live together, and this ending, perhaps more than most, highlights that their fate is out of their hands, that there could be no happy ever after for Romeo and Juliet.