Madonna of the Cat

In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, 16 years pass between the stasis of Act III and the promise of Act IV. Madonna of the Cat imagines those lost years, examining themes of friendship, motherhood, and forgiveness. The play gives voice to the character in the bard’s most famous stage direction, “Exit, pursued by a bear,” and gets its title from a work by Giulio Romano, the only artist directly mentioned in a Shakespeare play.

What I loved about this play is its tenderness. The relationships model genuine care. Mach's writing is both clever and funny (the bear's fourth-wall-breaking philosophical musings are particularly delightful), but what lingers is the warmth. This is a play about how we hold each other up.

-Krista Garver, Broadway World)

“ . . . If you enjoyed HAMNET, don’t sleep on Sue Mach’s luminous new play MADONNA OF THE CAT, which does for the women of THE WINTER’S TALE what Maggie O’Farrell’s novel did for Anne Hathaway: fills in the lives, bonds, knowledge, sorrows, and growth that the standard Shakespeare narrative leaves blank. It’s thoughtfully directed by Gemma Whelan with space for the marvelous ensemble—Luisa Sermol, Maria Porter, Crystal Ann Muñoz, Emma Greene—to shine, to sing, to dance, to remind us how art transforms what’s lost. Like Stoppard’s ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN or Vogel’s DESDEMONA, Mach slips in between Shakespeare’s scenes, creating space for female solidarity, teaching, healing, and even a voice for that notorious bear, a cantankerous softie played by Bruce Burkhartsmeier like an ursine Roy Kent.

- Daniel Pollack-Pelzner author of Lin Manuel Miranda: Education of an Artist)

Mach’s play treats us to the bear’s perspective. Wearing a shaggy brown jacket over everyday clothes. . .and lumbering around with his knees slightly bent, this bear . . .addresses the audience with a working-class British accent, explaining what really happened with Antigonus. No, he didn’t “pursue” anyone, he insists. And yes, he did eat the courtier. But as he humorously explains, the man (or “that stupid fuck”) woke him up and invaded his territory, hence the attack was a reasonable response. Far more natural, I’d add, than a king who calls his wife a “whore” and condemns her to die.

-Linda Ferguson, Oregon Arts Watch

All photos by Reed Alyson @reedalysonphoto