Maggie the Cat is part of Trajal Harrell’s epic trilogy Porca Miseria where he unites three women from literature and history who were dismissed and attacked and who responded to these brutal assaults with a determined mix of pride and combativeness. In Maggie the Cat he focuses on the captivating main character from Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Restless but tough, unloved but unashamed: that’s Maggie the Cat. Maggie is both a character and at times an unstoppable urge and energy that drives the rhythm and structure of the piece. The dance is populated by the Mississippi milieu of the piece: Big Mama, Big Daddy, and the African-American servants on Big Daddy’s plantation. These characters are personified, but are also competing cadences in tone, sound, and power that drive the dance, musicality, and visual composition of the work.
Maggie the Cat is a brilliant and challenging blend of high and popular culture. 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 is challenging, tragic, entertaining – and ultimately joyous.
Direction, choreography, costume design, sound design: Trajal Harrell
With: Trajal Harrell, Helan Boyd Auerbach, Perle Palombe, Rob Fordeyn, Vânia Doutel Vaz, Nasheeka Nedsreal, Christopher Matthew, Tiran Normanson, Songhay Toldon, Ondrej Vidlar
Set design: Erik Flatmo
Light design: Stéfane Perraud
Dramaturgy: Katinka Deecke
Producer: Axel Satgé
Wardrobe manager: Sally Heard
Production manager: Steve Wald and Paul Moore
Lighting technician: Andrew Wynne
Sound technician: Melvin Coote
Produced by: Causecélèbre, Manchester International Festival
Co-production: Manchester International Festival, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Onassis Stegi, Kampnagel (Hamburg), Holland Festival, the Barbican et Dance Umbrella, NYU Skirball, Berliner Festspiele et The Arts Centre à NYU Abu Dhabi.
Diffusion: ART HAPPENS
Maggie the Cat is part of the trilogy Porca Miseria, commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Onassis Stegi, Kampnagel Hamburg, Holland Festival, Barbican, Dance Umbrella, NYU Skirball, Berliner Festspiele & The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi.
| Date | Performance | City Country | Organisation/Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29.01.2025 | Maggie The Cat | Charleroi (be) | Charleroi danse |
| 25.10.2024 | Maggie The Cat | Zurich (ch) | Schauspielhaus Zürich |
| 24.10.2024 | Maggie The Cat | Zurich (ch) | Schauspielhaus Zürich |
| 23.10.2024 | Maggie The Cat | Zurich (ch) | Schauspielhaus Zürich |
| 16.12.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Paris (fr) | Festival d'Automne à Paris & La Villette |
| 15.12.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Paris (fr) | Festival d'Automne à Paris & La Villette |
| 14.12.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Paris (fr) | Festival d'Automne à Paris & La Villette |
| 06.08.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Vienna (at) | ImPulsTanz |
| 04.08.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Vienna (at) | ImPulsTanz |
| 25.05.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Brussels (be) | Kunstenfestivaldesarts/KVS Bol |
| 24.05.2023 | Maggie The Cat | Brussels (be) | Kunstenfestivaldesarts/KVS Bol |
| 14.05.2023 | Maggie The Cat | London (gb) | Barbican |
| 13.05.2023 | Maggie The Cat | London (gb) | Barbican |
| 12.05.2023 | Maggie The Cat | London (gb) | Barbican |
| 29.10.2022 | Maggie The Cat | New York (us) | NYU Skirball |
| 28.10.2022 | Maggie The Cat | New York (us) | NYU Skirball |
| 27.10.2022 | Maggie The Cat | New York (us) | NYU Skirball |
| 23.07.2022 | Maggie The Cat | Venice (it) | Biennale Danza |
| 19.06.2022 | Maggie The Cat | Amsterdam (nl) | Holland Festival |
| 18.06.2022 | Maggie The Cat | Amsterdam (nl) | Holland Festival |
| 18.07.2021 | Maggie The Cat | Vienna (at) | ImPulsTanz |
| 16.07.2021 | Maggie The Cat | Vienna (at) | ImPulsTanz |
| 29.06.2021 | Maggie The Cat | Bordeaux (fr) | La Manufacture CDCN |
| 18.04.2021 | Maggie The Cat (CANCELLED - Covid-19) | Berlin (de) | Berliner Festspiele |
| 17.04.2021 | Maggie The Cat (CANCELLED - Covid-19) | Berlin (de) | Berliner Festspiele |
| 05.09.2020 | Maggie The Cat (CANCELLED - Covid-19) | Brussels (be) | Kunstenfestivaldesarts |
| 04.09.2020 | Maggie The Cat (CANCELLED - Covid-19) | Brussels (be) | Kunstenfestivaldesarts |
| 27.06.2020 | Maggie The Cat | Amsterdam (nl) | Holland Festival |
| 26.06.2020 | Maggie The Cat | Amsterdam (nl) | Holland Festival |
| 05.10.2019 | Maggie The Cat | Hamburg (de) | Kampnagel |
| 04.10.2019 | Maggie The Cat | Hamburg (de) | Kampnagel |
| 14.07.2019 | Maggie The Cat | Manchester (gb) | MIF - Manchester International Festival/The Dancehouse |
| 13.07.2019 | Maggie The Cat | Manchester (gb) | MIF - Manchester International Festival/The Dancehouse |
| 12.07.2019 | Maggie The Cat | Manchester (gb) | MIF - Manchester International Festival/The Dancehouse |
| 11.07.2019 | Maggie The Cat (WORLD PREMIERE) | Manchester (gb) | MIF - Manchester International Festival/The Dancehouse |