The Mousehole Cat

This remarkable feelgood play written by Duncan Macmillan, presented ‘in the round’ by the brilliant comedic actor Jonny Donahoe,  swept everything aside at Edinburgh 2014 and has followed that with runs in London,  just recently sixteen (yes sixteen!)   weeks   Off Broadway in New York, and last month  success at the Brighton Festival.  It has been tremendously well received by audiences and critics alike.

We booked it at once having seen it last summer, and we are delighted to have the only performance in  Cornwall on this UK nationwide  tour.

It’s a play that cannot fail to move you to tears but  then have you burst out laughing.   As Lyn Gardner described it “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression .. and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see full stop.”   It redefines the word life-affirming.

On the surface, it’s the  simple telling of a story of how a young boy deals with his mother’s depression, trying to help by writing a list of all the ‘brilliant things’ he can think of to cheer her up.  But the story develops – involving and absorbing the audience – into the boy’s life story:  by the time he has grown into manhood, he discovers that the continuously evolving list has become his own personal blueprint for a healthy life.

Donahoe is a warm and personable performer — so warm and personable, he doesn’t even seem to be performing as much as taking the audience into his confidence.

Not only is his emotionally damaged character willing to share his precepts for a happy life with his audience,  the audience become collaborators  in his story.

This is a play you should not miss, literally ‘one of a kind’

Tickets £10, £8, Children £5