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.