The End of the Beginning: ‘Death and the Cat’ at Drayton Arms Pub Theatre

Death: hardly a word that conjures thoughts of a comedic play, let alone one you’d think to pair with a feline friend. Death and the Cat, however, is ingrained in my mind as an evening in the upstairs theatre of the Drayton Arms, where Rob Slater’s production delivered exactly what its name teases – brilliantly mingling the dark and macabre truths of life with lightness and levity, hitting soft spots deep within us all whilst proving at the same time that laughter really is the best medicine. 

Originating as a short story for a university assignment, Death and the Cat is six years of affection and attention in the making. When I met Slater and his cast members, they spoke about this play with fondness and care, more like a friend than a piece of work. It follows Death (Rowland Stirling) – an unsurprisingly brooding, towering Grim Reaper with great hair and a cutting wit – and his best friend Panther (Rosalie Evans), a black cat that has defied the mortality of her nine lives by staying alongside Death in his other-worldly duties from day one. They play chess, drink tea, and usher the souls of the dead from one realm to another. 

The company of Death and the Cat. Image supplied by the production.

But when a look too far into the other side puts a rift between this duo, Death searches far and wide for Panther. Not only does he face the glorious embodiment of the ‘holier-than-thou’ God (Kaneesha Watt) and her fabulous yet completely savage counterpart Satan (Lydia Cashman), but he also comes to terms with his own place in the universe as he grapples with his role in the ending of lives. Once stripped of all the weirdness, Evans said, the play is a profound and heartfelt look at the human condition. 

"It’s human nature at its best and worst, where the cat and Death are no different."

This complex topic, still dreaded and pondered upon by philosophers to date, is never shied away from, even while the audience is in stitches at an angel and their influencer lifestyle, or a bitchfight between the two greatest adversaries in the history of the universe. "They feed each other," Stirling told me, about the challenge of mixing comedy and emotional depth. Slater’s writing and gentle confrontation with the ideas of eternity and a moral existence are weighty and compelling, encouraging the audience to examine their own choices on how to live. As Death and the Cat seeks to remind us, even the highest beings have their flaws and complications.

The company of Death and the Cat. Image supplied by the production.

The superb comedic writing is complemented by the excellent acting. Brightness, complexity, and evident joy exudes from every single actor, as Satan bemoans missing her much-anticipated orgy, the Guard stoically puts up with Death’s mid-eternity crisis, and Ug fights hard in a battle of clubs. The atmosphere was rousing; often, it felt as though the laughter from this small theatre could rival that of the bustling pub underneath. The cast’s camaraderie was palpable, borne out of close partnership and mutual affection developed from collaborating at workshop events before this current show.

After the play’s closing night, Slater expressed that his overwhelming feelings were of pure shock and delight at the reaction to Death and the Cat, support he enjoyed not only in person from five sold-out nights at the Drayton Arms but also on social media and in positive reviews. He hopes the play has an afterlife but is more than happy with its crescendo finale of a pub theatre debut that “made all the hard work worth it”. 

Despite his humble surprise at the enthusiastic reception, there is no doubt that it is more than earned – a deserved attestation to the talent and fervour poured into the production from all cast and creatives involved. Death and the Cat is a real knockout that hits the mark in both comedy and depth, a refreshing nudge towards what it really means to be alive, and what I hope is not the end, but the end of the beginning of Rob Slater’s comedy career.