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Is this a period piece? "Cats" has long since been filmed - as a
TV / theatre mix, admittedly - and there are no modern references to mobile
phones or the internet or anything a sophisticated New York art couple would
simply accept as normal to their lifestyles today. So, they've either left the
play alone or just not noticed.
90 minutes of an actor pretending to be somebody else pretending
to be somebody else passes in a wave of wittily painful attacks on Manhattan
manners, none of which is explored for very long. The director keeps things
moving and the cast convince - particularly the inexperienced Obi Abili as
Paul... lucky, as his comfort depends on it.
There's not much of it, and occasionally its superficiality
grates along with its age, but the Old Vic do their utmost to give it the best
production possible and in that they succeed admirably.
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