I have seen The Wardrobe Ensemble twice in the past, and on both occasions, they performed adult shows you wouldn’t take the kids to. However, with their new show they take on an adaptation of Judith Kerr’s
Mog - The Forgetful Cat, and as a result, they present a brilliant, uplifting, hugely entertaining hour of theatre.
Kerr’s Mog first appeared in 1970 and it started a remarkable run of books published over 50 years to feature the puzzled feline, culminating in the final book released in 2020 following Kerr’s death, at 95, in 2019. Kerr is perhaps most famous for one of her other many tales The Tiger Who Came to Tea. However, here, seeing Mog on stage brings a great deal of entertaining little stories to the stage.
Mog - The Forgetful Cat from The Wardrobe Ensemble here takes influence from several Mog books, including Mog and the Vee Ee Tee and Mog’s Bad Thing, featuring an unforgivable act following an encounter with a flippy-flappy thing (you will need to see it to discover what this is), and it works beautifully.
The show opens early as everyone is making their way to their seats with a little audience interaction with Tom England as a pet shop owner and his assistant, Joey Hickman. They chat with the audience, asking about pets they thought might be in his shop. So, before the show has begun, the shop owned sparrowhawks, dragons and unicorns among others. England, in his role here, acts as the initial narrator and introduces us to Mog’s owners, the Thomas family and then the very remarkable cat Mog.
The cast plays a multitude of characters throughout the show except for Hanora Kamen who remains Mog through the duration, and she is brilliant. Perfectly enrapturing the movement and mannerisms of every domestic cat we have ever known. When I originally heard of this show, I did, I must admit that Mog would be a puppet, as I have seen some brilliant shows in the past creating characters like this in this form, so, to hear this wasn’t the case, offered an initial disappointment. However, any disappointment quickly went, as both Kamen’s performance and that of the other cast as several animals are top-notch and garnered much genuine response from the audience, of all ages. It never, ever, feels silly, which would always be a concern.
There isn’t any reason to single out the best of performances as they are, as any true ensemble should be, a brilliant team. The effortless scenes and interaction are superb, showing immense concentration and obvious skill. It was great to see the group's characteristic movement of sets back, I remember the doors still now of
Education, Education, Education so well, and much of the Thomas family house exhibited the same thing. In fact, the set from Laura McEwen is a huge gem of creation looking every bit the style of the artwork from the books themselves, and it works and adapts so well for all the tales told. A delight!
As befits a kids’ show, I was also accompanied by ten-year-old Scarlett (and her mother) for this show, and I garnered a few soundbites of review from her as well. “I really enjoyed it, it was really funny,” she said, and she added her favourite bit was “when she [Mog] turned into a weird butterfly” and I have to agree that was a brilliant scene. Also excellent was a driving scene featuring Kerry Lovell taking Mog to the V.E.T. Musical director and composer, Joey Hickman, who comically enhanced it by providing the in-car radio.
Scattered throughout the show are a few excellent musical numbers, which enhance the already thrilling show, and they are, as expected, extremely simple, but take their influence from Kerr’s work as well. The best, and most catchy, is
Bother that Cat, which builds and builds and acts as a nice little way of getting the audience singing along as well.
Mog - The Forgetful Cat is superb entertainment for children of all ages, and it is magnificently captured in a boredom avoiding one hour, single act, of theatre. Highly recommended if you have a child to take, and highly recommended if you don’t.
A purr-fect hour of entertainment for children of every age.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance reviewed: Wednesday 8th June 2022 at the Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton.
Mog - The Forgetful Cat runs at Royal & Derngate until Sunday 19th June 2022.
For further details about the Royal & Derngate see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk
Production photos: Manuel Harlan
