Director's notes on the play

cat's paw: a person who is used as a tool by another.

A play set on the streets of St Kilda about a young woman's experiences at the low end of the sex industry and the effect she has on the people around her may seem a strange or at least overtly sensationalistic choice of project for a first-time director. This is how it happened.

When I saw the original production of The Cat's Paw by Hoy Polloy Theatre in Melbourne in 2009 I came away with three lasting impressions. The first was how strongly the play stood in contrast with then current programs like Underbelly, Satisfaction and Secret Diary of a Callgirl in its portrayal of the less glamorous side of the sex industry. The second was how it's always nice to see plays where the narrative is driven by complex and interesting female characters. The third was that I hoped the show would come to Adelaide or a local company would do it, so I could see it again.

Obviously the latter didn't eventuate and it occurred to me that this might be the perfect opportunity to swallow my fear of failure and see whether I had what it took to direct a show. Fortunately Christine Croyden was amenable when I contacted her last year to ask whether the rights to the show were still available, and Spotlight Theatre Company, although their especial interest is producing new works by local writers, was open to the idea of a relatively new play that hadn't been produced in Adelaide before.

The issue of the sex industry and its place in society is obviously a controversial one but I do not think The Cat's Paw should be viewed as an attempt to make an universal statement or moral judgment about people who work in the sex industry. To expect what is presumably an incredibly diverse experience to be distilled succinctly into a single narrative would be foolish. Brigid and her cohorts are neither glamour girls making thousands of dollars while enjoying the high life, or hapless victims of circumstance and society, devoid of autonomy or individuality. They are ordinary people doing what they need to do, and even if we don't personally agree with their choices we can hopefully at least understand them.

The Cat's Paw invites the audience to consider such issues as the impact today's "raunch culture" has on both women and men, the messages girls and young woman receive about where their inherent value lies, and who exactly profits in a culture where the line between empowerment and self-exploitation blurs. It is, over and above that, an exploration of the ways people can use one another to meet their own needs, and a story of the universal human quest for connection and validation.

Spotlight Theatre Company are proud to be bringing this play to an Adelaide audience for the first time.

The Cat's Paw - some notes from playwright Christine Croyden

The night cats are out on the streets of St Kilda and another bruised and bleeding girl is pushed from a car. She picks herself up and staggers precariously into the dark on her four-inch heels. A mysterious woman offers her help under the gaze of an unlikely angel. A bewildered man crosses her path and struggles to connect with her. Confused and desperate, she’s forgotten everything she wants to remember and can only remember what she wants to forget...

The Cat's Paw premiered in 2009 at the Carlton Courthouse produced by Hoy Polloy with assistance from La Mama. Spotlight Theatre are proud to present this play to an Adelaide audience for the first time.

Some notes from playwright Christine Croyden:

Research background:

 

The Cat’s Paw explores the impact raunch culture is having on young women who are coming of age in a sexualised media saturated society. I began writing this play after I spent time working as a volunteer at the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda and for Project Respect, where I ran a creative writing classes for women wanting to exit the sex industry. However, the seed was planted long ago when, as a young nurse on night duty in the Emergency Department of the Alfred Hospital I met many young women involved in the sex industry.

 

Research Contribution:

 

What impact is raunch culture having on young women, who are coming of age in a sexualised, media saturated society? And why today, when women have more choices than ever before are so many of them entering the sex industry? There’s no way to analyse such conflicted areas of experience so my response is The Cat’s Paw. An imagined story set in a non-naturalistic world that explores disconnection and self-abuse through one young woman’s experiences as a sex worker. The play ultimately asks what it means to be human and work in the sex industry.

Christine Croyden is a Melbourne-based playwright and author. Her plays include Love your Poison, (La Mama, 2010), A Stranger in Town (Essential Theatre, 2011) and The Fallen Tree (La Mama, 2012) as well as comedies The Snail Killer and Shady Ladies both produced during The Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2011 Croyden was awarded the Inaugural Stage and Screen Residency at Varuna to work on her new play, You Never Know. She is the author of two novels for young adults and many short stories published internationally. She currently teaches writing at Victoria University.

Christine Croyden

Welcome to our new website

Welcome to Spotlight Theatre Company's new website. For information on our productions pre-2012 please go here.

Our first production for 2012 will be The Cat's Paw by Christine Croyden.

photography by Luke Howard

Directed by Kristin Telfer
Production design by Shannon Norfolk
Lighting / sound design by Tony Moore

Cast
Beau Anderson - Brigid
Anna Bampton - Monica
Shannon Gray - Angel
Maxine Grubel - Abigail
Joanna Webb - Esther
Damien White - Paul

Dates: 21-23 and 27-30 June at 8 p.m.
Venue: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Ticket prices: $20 full price / $15 students, concession and Fringe Benefits members / $16 groups (five or more)
Bookings: call 0400 579 530

Run time: 80 minutes
For mature audiences

More information to come.