Troubled but tough, unloved but unbowed, Maggie the Cat is the captivating focus of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now, acclaimed American choreographer Trajal Harrell places Maggie centre stage in his magnetic new dance work, a dazzling and provocative fusion of high art and pop culture premiered at MIF19.
Set to a soundtrack ranging from electro and pop to classical music, Maggie the Cat addresses power, gender, rejection and inclusion through the prism of one of modern theatre’s most celebrated characters. Influenced by everything from ancient Greek theatre to the Harlem voguing underground, it’s challenging, tragic, entertaining – and ultimately joyous.
Maggie the Cat, which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2019, is part of Trajal Harrell's trilogy Porca Miseria, which is inspired by women who have had to navigate treacherous waters to assert themselves. The other two plays are O Medea (2019 at the Onassis Centre in Athens) and Deathbed, which premiered at Schauspielhaus Zürich in 2022.