Death and the Cat by Robert Emlyn Slater at the Drayton Arms Theatre is a laugh-a-minute absurdist romp. Unfortunately, what it offers in humor, it fails to offer in substance. According to the show’s programme, Death and the Cat has had many incarnations; it has been a short play, a novel, and a short story. It now has a new life as a full-length play. However, the play in its current form is not suited for a long form of drama. The stakes are low, there were holes in the world building, and as a whole it left the audience with more questions than answers.
I am not of the mind that a play needs to have a large budget to be an impactful piece of art. It must, however, have something of note to say. Unfortunately, Death and the Cat tells the audience the story without saying much of anything. The old adage of “show not tell” was disregarded entirely here.
I was excited originally by the concept. Though not a novel concept, the idea that the incarnation Death takes time off after his cat leaves him is a fun one. However, this is where the fun stops as the repetitive script was too focused on telling inside jokes with itself and less focused on plot, structure, theme, and character arc or development.
As it currently stands, Death and the Cat is not fully realised. It unfortunately lacks dynamism, action, conflict, and progressive complications to keep the play moving forward. What was most surprising about Death and the Cat was that it was a massive opportunity to question and criticize Christocentric systems, but merely reinforced them. The strength of Death and the Cat, however, was in its actors who seemed to have fun, and the endless humour. Tackling large, existential questions through an absurdist lens is a very effective tool and I wish that Death and the Cat utilized this more fully.
There are certainly bones of a good play here, and what may result with more editing is sure to be surprising and gripping.
★★☆☆☆ (2*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by @kingdulka.photo
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