CATS pounces on Cape Town this December!
While there is still a long, wet winter to get through, here's some purr-fectly good news to get you looking forward to summer already... Cape Town's festive season just got a lot more fabulous, with the news that the iconic musical CATS is returning to the Mother City!
CATS will run at the Artscape Opera House from 10 December 2025 to 11 January 2026.
Presented by Pieter Toerien and GWB Entertainment in association with Cape Town Opera, the production of CATS will also head to Johannesburg's Teatro at Montecasino from 17 January to 22 February 2026. Tickets are available exclusively through Webtickets.
Adapted from TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber's acclaimed musical brings to life a tribe of feline characters gathering for the mysterious Jellicle Ball. With eye-catching choreography, elaborate costumes and featuring the signature rendition of 'Memory', this new rendition of a much-loved theater classic promises an unforgettable night at the theatre.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Rebel Wilson: ‘I always wanted to be like Judi Dench. But people like laughing at me'
What's been the most fun you've had on set? FrNthOldPitch Perfect, because it felt like theatre camp. We came together in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was like college: hanging out with my friends, having fun, not really acting. For four weeks we were in boot camp, where we'd dance and do conditioning in the mornings – so sit-ups, stretching and learning the choreography. In the afternoons, we'd learn our 10-part harmonies and go into the recording studio. Sometimes we were really dorky and said: on Friday we're all going to wear the same colour T-shirts, just to be like a squad. You've worked with Sir Derek Jacobi twice – in Juliet & Romeo, and the upcoming Tinsel Town. How was he? Derekj2210It was pretty cool to be in scenes with him. Even though we weren't doing the iambic pentameter, it was interesting to watch how the language fell off his tongue. We were filming in this medieval Italian church. It was zero degrees, but he was so easygoing: always telling stories, with this fun grandpa vibe. He's one of the most amazing Shakespearean actors ever: in his 80s, still crushing every line. I kept wanting to get selfies with him, because he really is one of the greats. I felt the same when I worked with Dame Judi Dench on Cats. When I started acting, I always wanted to be like Dame Judi, because I thought I was going to be a serious actor. It just turned out that people like laughing at me. She's like your grandma, in that you just want to hold her hand, and help her. She's also got a wicked sense of humour: she'd be throwing out jokes and cursing, which I thought was hilarious. There have been a few times I've had to pinch myself. I had to do a boot camp with Sir Ian McKellen for Cats; at one point we were crawling around on the floor, pretending to lick each other. It was so funny. What is it like being a guest on the Graham Norton Show? I enjoyed your rap and the way you took your heels off. VegansRuleThePlanetGraham Norton is such a master of the talkshow. Other talkshows can be a bit of a struggle, but with him, it really is just like having a chat. I did the rap because I was telling the story of when I was 11, I had a rap group with my sister, which was probably the most uncool thing ever, seeing as we were two white girls from Sydney. I took my shoes off because I'm terrible at doing anything in high heels. I do try to wear them to be classy on the night-time talkshows, but I'm terrible at moving in heels: I move like a shuffling wombat. You won $250,000 for charity on the US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Does this mean you're not such a Rebel Without a Cause? vammypWe had a great cause: the money sponsored a school in Tanzania, and helped put 40 kids through college. Some have already graduated. The medical students still send me video updates every six months. It's surreal that going on a gameshow for half an hour resulted in putting 40 kids through college in Africa. My heart rate was pumping because I wanted to win as much money for charity as I could. You think: oh my God, please don't be an idiot. I play a lot of dumb, stupid characters, but in real life, I do have two degrees – in theatre and performance studies, and law. I have a charitable connection to Africa because when I was 18, I did a gap year, and travelled from South Africa to Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. When I got to Mozambique, I got malaria really badly. We didn't have time to put up the mosquito nets and I woke up with my face covered in mosquito bites. Two weeks later, I was in hospital because it was a really bad strain. I don't know whether it was the disease or the drugs, but I was hallucinating really badly, and I hallucinated that I won an Academy Award. It was so visceral and real that I came out of hospital and said: 'Hey everyone, I think I'm going to become an actor now.' The South Africans were like: 'Ah, no, Rebel. The malaria has demented your brain.' My parents were pushing me into law school, so I did law by day and acting by night. Has your positive body transformation led to different scripts coming your way? BradLopez22In the movie I just shot in the UK, Tinsel Town, I play the love interest to Kiefer Sutherland, which is probably not at all the kind of role you'd think I'd get cast as. There was a tendency to think: she's no longer Fat Amy [from Pitch Perfect], so she can't play those characters any more. There was a little bit of: also, is she still funny? I've just been offered the lead in a horror movie. So it's not just comedies, musicals and romcoms. It's good to surprise people. Did I have a Greggs? [Sutherland is an outspoken fan, so Greggs sent a van to the set]. Yes. I enjoyed a sausage roll. Greggs gifted Kiefer and I a £50 VIP voucher, which I still have. You get four sausage rolls for the price of three as well. That's a lot of sausage rolls. Pitch Perfect: The Reunion ...? Any plans for a fourth instalment? writeronthestormOh God, I hope so. We hear rumours all the time. I know Universal is developing some scripts. The fanbase for Pitch Perfect is so awesome and keeps growing as younger people are introduced to it. So, hopefully – there's a huge desire for another movie. Marmite or Vegemite? TopTrampI'm actually a weird Australian: I don't eat Vegemite or Marmite. I don't know why. I just don't like the look of it. If I was putting something on toast, I'd put Nutella. What role challenged you most? HamesJoyceI did a very small movie called The Almond and the Seahorse, which we filmed up in Liverpool and north Wales, about traumatic brain injury. Because it was such an intense subject, you had to go from zero to 100 emotionally within the same scene. I was like: how am I gonna do this? But it turned out really well, and challenged me a lot more than roles like Fat Amy where I get to sing, dance and be goofy. Juliet & Romeo will screen in selected UK cinemas for one night only on 11 June
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
Everyone can see the pearls, but you need the eyes of a hawk to spot the diamond in less than 10 seconds
HERE'S a puzzling brain teaser that will test your eyesight and intelligence. Everyone can see the pearls, but you will need the eyes of an eagle-eyed hawk to spot the diamond in less than 10 seconds. 2 The puzzle is made all the more difficult because the diamond is hidden among similar-shaped objects. It's nestled between small circles, large circles and even medium-sized ones. And also some shapes that look surprisingly like diamonds. Not easy. As well as a high IQ, you can boast to have laser-focused eyes if you pull this off. If you haven't been able to spot the diamond, you can scroll below to find out where it is. Certain brainteasers and optical illusions, particularly those that involve patterns or sequences, can help strengthen both short-term and long-term memory. 99 percent of people can't find the hidden objects in under 20 seconds - are you up to the challenge By working through puzzles on a regular basis, you will actively engage the brain's memory systems and directly improve your future attempts at visual challenges. Many brainteasers, like this one, require challengers thinking outside the box. This improves creative problem-solving skills by encouraging the brain to come up with innovative solutions. How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me? If you're after another brainteaser to challenge yourself, try this one - as apparently only those with a high IQ are able to find the heart hidden among the spring flowers. Or you can have a go at figuring out the hidden message in this band's cover art that has confused fans for years. Lastly, puzzle fanatics have been left scratching their heads trying to find the lost feather in just 12 seconds. It also translates to real-life situations where you might need to approach challenges in new and inventive ways. If you're after another brainteaser to challenge yourself, try this one - as apparently only those with a high IQ are able to find the heart hidden among the spring flowers. It also translates to real-life situations where you might need to approach challenges in new and inventive ways.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Daily Mail
Electric Spark by Frances Wilson: Spy, Secretary, Superstar: The Prime of Miss Muriel Spark
Electric Spark: The Enigma Of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson (Bloomsbury £25, 432pp) In the summer of 1953, Muriel Spark – not yet the famous novelist behind The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie – was en route from London to the Edinburgh Festival, rattling with amphetamines. She was reviewing a new play by T.S. Eliot, who praised the ensuing article as 'one of the two or three most intelligent reviews' he read. But a year later, Spark was gripped by drug-induced psychosis, believing that Eliot was sending her cryptic messages, disguising himself as her window cleaner and stealing her food. Prescribed Largactil, she quickly recovered, yet an interest in code-cracking and deceit would always colour her imagination. In the dreary world of post-war British fiction, still a boys' club fixated on realism, be it Kingsley Amis's campus satire Lucky Jim or the kitchen-sink drama of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, Spark's sleek brand of experimental struck like lightning. Her 1957 debut The Comforters portrays a woman who hears in her head the text of the very book we're reading. Her 1961 smash hit The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie tells us right away that the maverick teacher of the title (played on screen by Maggie Smith) will be betrayed by her pupils. The first line of 1970's The Driver's Seat, Spark's own favourite of her 22 novels, introduces us to a woman in search of her future murderer – two decades before Martin Amis cemented enfant terrible status with the same idea in London Fields. Enigmatic yet crisp and concise, crackling with twists, each of Spark's 22 novels was written in one go without her needing to revise them – or so she told a BBC interviewer later in life. Frances Wilson casts an admiring yet sceptical eye over that and other claims in this new biography, exploring the mind behind the books. Born Muriel Camberg to a Jewish factory worker and Presbyterian mother in 1918, the author worked as a secretary before leaving Edinburgh for Southern Rhodesia. She had married Sydney Spark, a troubled teacher she met at a dance at 19. He had found a post there after his worrying antics, such as firing a starting pistol in the classroom, had deterred employers at home. Seven years later, Spark walked out on Africa and her husband – as well as their young son, Robin. At a job centre in London she was recruited for undercover work with the Foreign Office, where she helped flood Nazi Germany with propaganda from a clandestine HQ in Bedfordshire. Wilson speculates that it wasn't Spark's first rodeo – she might have been a spy in Bulawayo, identifying enemy aliens among settlers. An abiding interest in secret communication tipped her into madness once she embarked on literary life in London, where she encountered strife from the start. Appointed editor of the magazine Poetry Review in the 1940s, she championed edgier poets such as Eliot and W.H. Auden. 'I started publishing modern poems rather than Christmas card-type poems,' she said in an interview in 2000. But she rubbed long-time contributors the wrong way. 'They would do anything to get published. Those that weren't queer wanted to sleep with me. They thought they were poets and there should be free love or something.' When Spark entered a story competition in The Observer – 'as one might enter for a crossword puzzle,' she said – she won first prize. It poured oil on the jealousy of her on-off lover Derek Stanford, a jobbing writer and sometime collaborator who betrayed her by selling her letters and writing rumour-filled books about her. Spark was 'a magnet for mediocrities', says Wilson, describing alarming encounters in her rackety Grub Street life. Where an earlier biographer referred to Spark's failed seduction by the forgotten experimental novelist Rayner Heppenstall – a BBC producer who was pals with George Orwell – Wilson instead calls it 'attempted rape'. By the Sixties, Spark was a superstar, London in the rear-view mirror. In Manhattan she was given an office with a view of Times Square by the editor of The New Yorker. In 1966 she upped sticks again, to Italy. In Rome she lived in a Renaissance-era apartment so grand she couldn't see the ceiling; in Tuscany, she settled down with Penelope Jardine, an art student she met while getting her hair done. With Jardine as her gatekeeper and companion, peace broke out – at least until Spark received a proposal from biographer Martin Stannard. Spark had praised his biography of Evelyn Waugh in a review for this paper in 1992. When Stannard sent her a card to say thanks, she replied that she wished she herself would have a biographer as good. Stannard seized the moment and put himself forward, though not without trepidation: how would an academic with the dress sense of Norman Wisdom (as he put it) measure up to a woman so chic? The ensuing years were an ordeal for both parties. Spark had sought redress for the tittle-tattle peddled in the books that her former lover Derek Stanford had written about her. But that wish led her to thwart the very biographer she appointed, controlling his work through lengthening bouts of failing health. One of Spark's friends recalls sitting with her at her kitchen table as she read aloud scornfully from Stannard's 1,200-page manuscript, which had been submitted for her approval as per their agreement. Every detail was questioned: her mental breakdown was, she said, actually 'a physical breakdown which inspired a form of dyslexia'. The book, rewritten four times, was eventually published after Spark died in 2006 – essentially in its original form, Stannard tells Wilson. Wilson's own biography avoids a cradle-to-grave approach, opting for a dynamic and dizzying weave of early struggles and future success. She reports that in 1961 a magazine polled leading novelists about whether they wanted to make a political, moral, spiritual or intellectual impact ('Certainly not,' said 007 author Ian Fleming). Spark replied: 'In all four fields I would like more readers to see things as I do.' Wilson calls her the 'most singular figure on the 20th-century literary landscape'. Hard not to agree.
