From the «PORCA MISERIA» trilogy
Choreography: Trajal Harrell
Guest Performance by Trajal Harrell / Zürich Dance Ensemble
PFAUEN
Zurich Premiere: 23 October 2024
60 min, no intermission
Troubled but tough, unloved but unbowed, Maggie the Cat is the captivating focus of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now, acclaimed American choreographer Trajal Harrell places Maggie centre stage in his magnetic new dance work, a dazzling and provocative fusion of high art and pop culture premiered at MIF19.
Set 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’s challenging, tragic, entertaining – and ultimately joyous.
Maggie the Cat, which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2019, is part of Trajal Harrell's trilogy Porca Miseria, which is inspired by women who have had to navigate treacherous waters to assert themselves. The other two plays are O Medea (2019 at the Onassis Centre in Athens) and Deathbed, which premiered at Schauspielhaus Zürich in 2022.
Jakob Wittkowsky
Trajal Harrell on MAGGIE THE CAT © Manchester International Festival
Applause doesn’t seem quite enough; it’s a thrilling work, both free and beautifully structured, profound and exhilarating. It’s part of a trilogy that will come back to Manchester in 2021 and I can’t wait to see the rest.
Masterly timing and aesthetic flair. Through rhythmic juxtaposition and perfect pacing, he creates alternating states of chaos and calm, of joy and excitement, bewilderment and bathos. They are all Maggie, and they are all superb.
A joyous and victorious act of playfulness.