On Fri. Oct. 7, 2005 I had the pleasure of attending a performance of the Moscow Cats Theatre at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in NYC. According to their promotional material, the theatre’s founder, Yuri Kuklachev, began his career clowning in the Moscow Circus where he first conceived the idea of using a particularly amenable adopted stray cat in his act. This proved such a success that Mr. Kuklachev went independent and formed his own troupe in 1990 and has been wowing audiences and winning awards in his Russian home and around the world ever since, working with his wife Yelena, his son Dmitri, and colleagues Marina and 4 other clowns plus 20 cats (long and short haired) and 2 small dogs (not to mention a numerous support and tech crew and a full-time vet).

The show I saw ran approx. 90 minutes with no intermission, graced with dazzling and colorful costumes, props, expert lighting and set décor including beautiful and witty artistic drawings by Mr. Kuklachev who is also a highly talented fine artist. His renderings adorn the program book and prints can be bought in the lobby. The entire show gets accompanied by a solo synthesizer player who performs a sprightly rock-beat medley of well-known contemporary and adapted classical tunes and a sound FX guy whose clever noises enhance the comedic action.

Technical background aside, the on-stage antics are a pure delight. The animals are trained with infinite love and patience to accentuate what cats do naturally, the felines getting petted and coaxed and rewarded with strokes and gentle sounds constantly – kindness and care for the furry frolickers firmly emphasized by Yuri and Dmitiri Kuklachev in all their interviews and publicity. And this can clearly be seen by the spectators who react by gasping in awe and laughing and clapping non-stop throughout.

The cats, mostly moggies with a few pure-breeds amongst them and two small mongrel dogs – all critters utterly adorable, well-groomed and healthy, work a few at a time and never all at once, totally harmoniously with each other and the humans. The set-pieces flow smoothly, years of showmanship obvious, one routine cleverly transitioning into the next and featuring: feline feats of balancing on small platforms atop tall poles and across thin, tightrope-like horizontal poles, locomoting on top and startlingly from underneath, upside down.

Acts also included: the famous “Cat in the Pot” in which Mr. Kuklachev, in chef’s attire, enters with a cooking vessel and, surprised to discover a cat inside, he removes her, but each time she immediately jumps right back in again. More treats involved: various combinations of the cats and the dogs pulling and/or pushing each other across the stage in various styles of little carts; a cat on a rocking horse; cats emerging out of or disappearing into all manner of boxes and containers; kitties perching on or leaping off or onto the shoulders of the humans during their antics; and a bit where a cat and Mr. Kuklachev were switching on and off a tricky light bulb on a low table – you had to see it to believe it. One of the best feats gets performed by Mr. Kuklachev’s favorite cat Marusa, a gorgeous fluffy tortie and white who does a “paw stand” on his hand, an amazing stunt depicted in all the promo photos but truly astounding before one’s own eyes.

Lots of audience participation happens throughout involving beach ball tossing, plentiful balloons, getting a chance to be the subject of Mr. Kuklachev’s quick sketches and including some volunteers being asked to come onstage to assist. The show climaxes with the story of “Queen of the Cats” a sort of allegory in which Mr. Kuklachev portrays a painter who, when he goes to sleep, dreams about elephant-like aliens (actually performers in amusing costumes) arriving in a UFO from outer space. They attempt to steal his cats and the mysterious, lovely Queen of the Cats arrives to save the day with her mirrored discotheque-type ball that emits “rays of goodness” spreading love and kindness throughout the world. Here we see the royal cat balancing on the ball which slowly spins, lit to fill the entire auditorium with sparkly light effects. This gets a very favorable response from the onlookers.

I adored the show, presented and staged with consummate skill, full of laughter and thrills and fun and fabulous felines. The human performers certainly love what they do, and their fondness for their furry compatriots shines through in every gesture and stroke and murmur as they work together in a team effort. Mr. Kuklachev, still in costume, meets and greets the audience and signs autographs while they exit through the lobby. An assistant holds one of the troupe - Banana, a beautiful, seal point fluffy Himalayan cat which calmly and docilely permits scores of happy folks of all ages to pet him. Mr. Kuklachev asserts that all the cats in the Moscow Cats Theatre are artists and he treats them as such and that is clearly evident. Only the most hardened PETA fanatic could resist the charms of the Moscow Cats Theatre. This ailurophile was in ecstasy and wanted to run away and join this unique entourage! Should Mr. Kuklachev’s spectacle arrive in your neck of the woods – DON’T MISS IT!

About the Author:
Amy Harlib is a 40-something, life-long, avid reader of science fiction & fantasy literature and graphic novels, retired with plenty of time to indulge in her passions for reading and cinema. She lives in NYC and welcomes intelligent feedback and discussion about the genre. Other enthusiasms: cats, archeology / anthropology / paleontology, folklore and mythology, genre films, science for intelligent laypersons, and memoirs / narratives as literature. Her email is aharlib@earthlink.net.