A Purr With Your Play

As we mentioned yesterday, theatre cats may be about to make a comeback. Time was there were moggies living in theatres across London but increasingly, as they died or retired to live with little old ladies, fresh blood wasn't brought in.

Now Equity are discussing a campaign to bring back the theatre cat - not in tribute to TS Eliot's Gus, but to deal with the large numbers of mice and rats in theatreland. (Hmm. We may be wearing bicycle clips next time we go to a play.) It ties in with their efforts to improve working conditions for actors by lobbying theatre owners to deal with ageing infrastructure in the buildings. And, of course, a purring fuzzball is a nice de-stresser for actors before they tread the boards (perhaps less so when they stroll on stage mid-impassioned speech).

Adoption centres are always looking for good homes for animals, so we're behind this plan. Which kitties will join the ranks of the famous Boy Cat, who once ate Princess Margarets bouquet and stole the show during a performance of Pygmalion? Or Beerbohm, former resident at the Gielgud, whose obituary got into The Stage? Or Misty, whose favourite nap spot was the Strand Theatre's sound desk? This is such a brilliant tradition, we demand its return immediately. If not sooner.