Performances 2023

Performances 2023

Trajal Harrell (CH/GR/US)
Maggie The Cat

ImPulsTanz Classic
© Tristram Kenton

This is where the catwalk meets Maggie the Cat. But the focus shifts in this brilliant dance reinterpretation of Tennessee Williams’ world-famous Southern drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, whose film version starring Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie and Paul Newman in the role of Brick became a box office hit in the late 1950s. For on Trajal Harrell’s catwalk, Maggie as well as the Black Servants, hardly noticed by Williams, come to the fore in all their complex whims and attitudes. In addition to influences from high fashion and exuberantly transformative costumes, Voguing – to music by Bruce Springsteen and Julio Iglesias, among others – plays a central role in Harrell's movement vocabulary. He himself dances and dazzles as "Big Mama", who pulls the strings here in place of Williams’ "Big Daddy". Harrell’s Maggie the Cat is part of his trilogy Porca Miseria ("Damned"), which deals with the lives of three multi-layered, outstanding (non-)fictional female characters. These include The Deathbed of Katherine Dunham and O Medea.

Duration: 60 Min

In English.
Recommended from the age of 14.
4.8.2023, 21:00
Volkstheater
6.8.2023, 21:00
Volkstheater
© Tristram Kenton
© Tristram Kenton
© Tristram Kenton

CREDITS

Direction, Choreography, Costume design & Sound design: Trajal Harrell
Cast: Trajal Harrell, Stephanie Amurao, Helan Boyd Auerbach, Vânia Doutel Vaz, Rob Fordeyn, Christopher Matthews, Nasheeka Nedsreal, Perle Palombe, Songhay Toldon, Ondrej Vidlar, Tiran Normanson
Dramaturgy: Katinka Deecke
Set design: Erik Flatmo, Trajal Harrell
Light design: Stéfane Perraud
Director’s assistant: Lennart Boyd Schürmann
Diffusion: ART HAPPENS
Touring producer: Causecélèbre vzw

Produced by Manchester International Festival.
Maggie the Cat forms one part of a trilogy, Porca Miseria, commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Schauspielhaus Zürich, ONASSIS STEGI, Kampnagel (Hamburg), Holland Festival, the Barbican and Dance Umbrella (London), NYU Skirball (New York), Berliner Festspiele and The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi.

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