Happy New Year!!
For us at the Cat's Grin it's been a busy year and we wanted to take a moment to pause and look back all the fun characters we had a chance to play over the course of the year...
In early 2024, we had a few last performances of our 'The Wizard of Oz' show, ending our 2023-24 Winter run. Dorothy managed to make her way back to Kansas and her friends in Oz lived happily ever after, having achieved their dreams and no longer afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West!
We fluttered our way around Surrey with our cosy 'Traditional Fairytales: Goldilocks' & Friends' show throughout the Winter and Spring. This featured our classic characters from the Three bears, Little Red Riding Hood the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. Always a popular and a big crowd-pleaser!
Fast forward to Easter and we were back in Caterham for the annual Easter Trail. Mr and Mrs Easter, along with Eggetha , treated the clever trail-completers to some Easter surprises and lots of goodies!
When Summer rolled around, we were once again we were invite to the beautiful Polesden Lacey (National Trust), in Surrey for 'Pop-Up Shakespeare'. This year included a family-friendly, potted 'Macbeth', as well as scenes from 'Twelfth Night' and 'A Mid-Summer Night's Dream'.
As always, we give audiences the opportunity to get involved by playing the roles of ghosts, kings, knights, fairies and witches!
We had some amazing feedback from the shows. Our favourite was this one sent through the website:
Hi - just wanted to say thank you so much for a wonderful performance of Macbeth at polesdon on Saturday. My 3 year old has become obsessed with watching videos of YouTube of the weird sisters and banquo’s ghost- he is so fascinated and talking about it a lot - a welcome change from paw patrol! I hope the inspiration will last!
We love feedback like this and hold it as a badge of honour!
In August we returned to Sevenoaks (Kent), for a week of free, outdoor public shows - provided by Sevenoaks Town Council. This year our show was 'The Wind in the Willows' based on the story by Kenneth Grahame. Mr Toad was seen whizzing through the town streets in his motorcar, boat and caravan, getting into all sorts of trouble!
We were mostly lucky with the British weather, bar one day in which the wind howled and the rain poured. We were concerned we might have to cancel the show, however a small but hardy audience, hunkered down with their pack-n-macks and umbrellas.
Inspired by their dedication, we tied down our set (least it blows away) and weighed down our props and kept calm and carried on.
luckily we ended the week on a high with a beautiful summers day on the lovely groups of the vine with a very big and lovely audience.
As autumn rolled around we continued with our 'The Wind in the Willows' shows, including as some half-term holiday clubs.
It seems that troublesome Mr Toad just can't seem to stay out of trouble! Those Ferrets, Stoats and Weasels always up to mischief. Luckily Toad has Ratty, Mole and Badger to help him out!
Throughout the second half of the year, we also made a few trips to the Bell pub in Fetcham. Something a bit different from our usual performances, these Storytime sessions are great for younger audiences. Our expert story tellers use a range of voices, props an musical accompaniment, as well as audience participation to engage youngsters in a fun way.
These sessions were an hour long and free to pub patrons! We're looking forward to doing some more of these, come the new year...
For us the busiest and most exiting part of the year is Christmas!
This year our Christmas roster in consisted of 'A Christmas Carol' and 'A Festive Double Bill: The Elves & the Shoemaker and Lazy John'.
Mean old Mr Scrooge learnt the error of his miserly ways. Thanks to some helpfl spirits he learnt the true meaning of Christmas: charity, kindness and goodwill to all!
Younger audiences got to enjoy our double bill of two classic stories. The Elves, the sensible Thimbelina and the excitable Pinhead, spread some Christmas cheer by helping the poor Shoemaker make some lovely shoes. Meanwhile Lazy John needs to learn the value of hard work, however he needs a little help along the way...
'Elves & the Shoemaker and Lazy John', along with 'The Wind in the Willows' and the 'Fairytale Storytimes', will be available to book for 2025. We will also be announcing some more shows available to book very soon!
We at the Cat's Grin wish you all a very Happy New Year!
We can't wait to see what 2025 brings!
