Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a tale of love, excitement, danger and very sharp claws. Unveiling the true story of a forgotten woman, Tiger Lady acts as a powerful vehicle to amplify under-represented voices. Mabel Stark, the queen of the circus in the time of the greatest show on Earth, was one of the first ever female tiger tamers, and the only woman to step into the ring with seven tigers.
From award-winning theatre company Dead Rabbits (The Dragon, My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice) comes a show combining fast-paced, innovative physical theatre with a moving love tale of two humans and a tiger. Tiger Lady is about being different and the tragedy that comes when a person has a displaced notion of being happy. Although a story from the beginning of the 20th century, this tragic production reminds us to look at our lives and our desires more closely.
Natisha Williams-Samuels will bring to life America’s most ferocious big cat tamer, Mabel Stark. She is joined by Antonio Victorio as Al G, James Parker as Louis, Chloe Waddilove as Maggie, Abayomi Oniyide as Art Rooney and Edward Breckenridge as Rajah the tiger.
Director Kasia Zaremba-Byrne (Lionboy, Complicité) combines physical playfulness, puppetry, object manipulation and music to engage audiences in an accessible and transformative way. She comments, I search for stories that tell of real people, often a bit removed from the present time so we can keep a little distance from ourselves, from what we take for granted. Often these stories have a hint of nostalgia, some half-remembered memory that pulls our imagination in. Often the stories are from the perspective of women, often forgotten, or viewed from the perspective of under-dogs, even though they showed immense courage and perseverance.
Dead Rabbits Theatre Company, formed in 2016, prides itself on simplicity of invention. Creating a vast landscape of changing images and visual magic, Dead Rabbits allows audiences to imagine the world through simplicity and movement, retelling amazing true stories of the unheard, unknown and excluded.
This performance is supported by Arts Council England and is presented in collaboration with Greenwich Theatre.
