An Audience with Barbara Catland

The cat’s meow of story cabaret

Barbara Catland the Crazy Cat Lady was a highly a-mews-ing persona that blended comedy, stories and Chloë's love of everything that purrs.

She's a crazy cat lady 'purr excellence', the cat's whiskers of feline fans. Introducing Barbara Catland and friends. Fur will fly when Babs gets her claws into modern life - 'Not enough naps' - and men - 'So like dogs!' Miss Catland will take questions but don't be surprised if she scratches. - Chloë

For the small but much respected Stroud Theatre Festival, in 2019 Chloë collaborated with fellow feline fan Laura May Attwood (Brick Door Theatre Company) in their comedy piece An Audience with Barbara Catland – complete with searing pink housecoat, basket of “kittens” and Laura in furry ears and tail as Tabitha the cat. But it was sweary puppet Koshka, with her heavily fake Russian accent, who rather stole this treat-shaking show!

It’s described by Chloë as, “a comedy fantasy that explodes the whole notion of the shabby, lonely crazy cat lady”, with topical themes and just a whisker of audience participation.

Chloë said in an interview with The Local Answer: “When it comes to the Catland show, I’m as nervous as a long - tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

“You see, for 20 years I’ve told stories live, following a theme not a script. Traditional stories have stood the test of time, I can trust them to be good. Devising new material like this show is risky – but it’s what I’ve been wanting to do.

“Almost since I started I’ve longed to break free of traditional material and create new spoken word stories. And I’ve been desperate to bring storytelling back to audiences of adults – everyone assumes that storytelling is only for under 5s, and it’s truly not just that.

“I'm a pioneer of ‘Story Cabaret’ – fairytales for grown-ups – and this show mixes some of that along with pure playful comedy. I often work with musicians but this is a rare opportunity to collaborate with another theatre maker. Laura and I are both crazy cat ladies in real life so it’s purr-fect for us.”