CAttS at Soho Theatre

May’s Cog Night took us to familiar territory as we visited Soho Theatre again to see Frankie Thompson’s CAttS, a one woman show inspired by the irresistible meme value of all things feline. Justin gives us his thoughts and sings thanks for the meowmories!

We’ve worked with Soho Theatre since 2018, and we were delighted to launch their website refresh early in May. Proving that business and pleasure sometimes do mix, their Dean Street venue has been a consistently popular choice for the Cog team’s nights out. We really enjoyed paying another visit to this most welcoming of venues, and this time we brought along some old and new faces: ex-Cogger Anna and our newest team member, Marwin both came for the show.

May's Cog Night featured old and new faces

Justin and Laura grabbed a photo opportunity under Soho Theatre's famous neon sign

Frankie Thompson’s feline-inspired show received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, and secured an extended run at Soho Theatre by popular demand, so there was a buzz of excitement around the studio when we booked our tickets, along with plenty of intrigue. We’d heard that Thompson was a great physical comedian with a love for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, but what were we actually going to see? Was it cabaret, satire, artistic mime, or something else entirely? More importantly: how much cat content would there be? We weren’t sure, but we knew it would be unfurrgetable.

In fact, CAttS was a little bit of everything; a non-stop sequence of sketches featuring dancing, singing, impressions, pratfalling and puns, all performed solo, and all linked by a shared connection to cat-related meme culture.

The entire show was built off the back of a brilliantly homemade clip show constructed from hundreds of viral video clips scoured from the depths of the internet. Each of these clips had some feline connection, and Thompson used them as inspiration for her performance, sometimes matching her physical comedy to the rhythms of the video clips, and sometimes lip-syncing to the audio recordings to create uncanny impersonations.

The performance included sections of dance and physical comedy

The show featured plenty of references to the Cats musical

Over the course of the show we were treated to greatest hits from the likes of the Simpsons‘ Crazy Cat Lady, Postman Pat and his cat, “Paul McCattney”, and even that infamous contestant on the Apprentice who tried to sell all the cat calendars (remember her?). In a particularly mad twist, we were shown a bizarre public service announcement filmed by the original cast of the Lloyd Webber version of Cats, a moment which surely had audience members rushing onto YouTube after the show to check whether what they’d just seen was real.

Frankie Thompson strode onto the stage in neon gym gear for her performance

Thompson rattled through her set at a crazy pace, and although her performing sometimes seemed unhinged, no one could mistake the level of coolness and timing involved in perfectly hitting hundreds of beats throughout the show. It was clear that any appearance of chaos was carefully choreographed, and the audience soon realised they were witnessing the skill of a performer at the peak of her powers.

Watching Catts felt a bit like scrolling through TikTok in real life. It was packed with characters who were extroverted, energetic, and fun, but they all felt a bit unhinged, in a slightly sinister way. It was clear that Thompson was channeling darker themes throughout the show, perhaps showing how meme culture and viral videos have become a way for people to hide from the stresses and anxieties of modern life. The show ended on an unexpectedly poignant note, which forced the audience to reflect for a second before showing their appreciation for talented performer who’d proved just how serious she was about the art of being silly.