By the Bog of Cats

Synopsis

By the Bog of Cats was written in 1998. Set in the mysterious and stark landscape of the bogs of rural Ireland, Carr's lyrical and timeless play tells the story of Hester Swane, an Irish traveller with a deep and unearthly connection to her land. Tormented by the memory of a mother who deserted her, Hester is once again betrayed, this time by the father of her child, the man she loves. On the brink of despair and heartbreak, she embarks on a terrible journey of vengeance as the secrets of her tangled history are revealed. Powerful and at times hilarious, the drama unfolds towards its tragic conclusion.

Our Review:

2 December 2004

At least the title doesn't give rise to false expectations: with a play uncompromisingly called By the Bog of Cats, you hardly expect it to be a boulevard comedy, but rather something far more bleak, dark and probably dank. And you'd be right. In what has to be the least commercially alluring title of this or any year, it's a brave producer who boldly puts it on the marquee of a commercial West End house.

But Sonia Friedman and her co-producers Mark Rubinstein and the American team of Waxman Williams Entertainment who are gracing the outside of Wyndham's Theatre with it, luckily have a couple more words to hope to draw the punters with: Holly Hunter.

The Oscar-winning star of The Piano joins such previous Friedman imports to the London stage as Madonna, Matthew Perry, Minnie Driver, Woody Harrelson and Gillian Anderson, but this time she comes with an extensive stage pedigree, including a previous appearance in this play that she...

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Latest User Review

80.46.166.194) - 14 January 2005:

I enjoyed the atmospheric and emotional performance and have been suprised by the reviews here. The audience tonight left the play enthusiastic in the extreme. ...

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