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Catz students present Tom Stoppard’s Travesties

Four Catz students are set to take on a production of Travesties next month, the award-winning 1974 play by our Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre for this year, Sir Tom Stoppard. A surreal comedy described as ‘a mingling of fact and fiction’, Travesties is a tale told through an eclectic mix of parody, puns, and peculiar goings-on, set against the backdrop of a Europe thrown into turmoil by the First World War. Oxford University student theatre company Pigfoot Theatre will be taking their production to the Oxford Playhouse from 2nd to 5th May, with Catz students in the role of Director, Assistant Director and Assistant Producer, as well as featuring in the cast.

Director Bea Udale-Smith (2016, English Language & Literature) told us: “We were really keen to put on a Stoppard play as soon as we found out he would be the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor, and after re-reading a lot of his work Travesties really stood out: it’s such a vibrant and wacky play and gave us the most scope to interpret and play with it in different ways. I also found it’s overt theatricality instantly appealing, and have introduced a physical theatre ensemble to emphasize this even further. The play is shaping up brilliantly in rehearsals and we are incredibly excited to have this opportunity to take one of Stoppard’s wildest plays to the Playhouse.”

Assistant Producer Frazer Martin (2016, English Language & Literature) added: “Travesties is such a brilliantly bizarre play and it has been incredibly exciting (and challenging) to bring together all its elements into one production. We have a really great team of incredibly talented students working on the play and it has been so rewarding to work with them.”

Other Catz involvement comes from Rosa Haworth (2017, English Language & Literature) as Assistant Director and Julia Pilkington (2016, English Language & Literature) acting in the role of Tristan Tzara. We’re also delighted that original music for the production has been composed by recent alumnus Billy Lucas (2014, Music).

For more information on the production, or to book tickets, visit the Oxford Playhouse website.

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