
Besties Justine (Sophie Melville) and Michael (Jassa Ahluwalia) experience a little calm before the storm in transcontinental Herding Cats (photo by Danny Kaan)
HERDING CATS
Soho Theatre / Stellar
June 7-21, $19
herdingcatsplay.com
sohotheatre.com
A battle over power and control is at the center of Soho Theatre’s two-continent production of Lucinda Coxon’s potent three-character play, Herding Cats. Originally performed in Bath in 2010, the work has been brought back during the pandemic in a stirring version that was presented live in London to a limited audience May 20–22, streamed around the world, and now made available as a recording June 7–21. The play features Jassa Ahluwalia and Drama Desk nominee Sophie Melville onstage in England, with Greg Germann in Los Angeles, projected on a large screen at the back. But it’s not just a gimmick; it makes sense within the context of the poignant story.
The talky Justine (Melville) and the quieter Michael (Ahluwalia) are friends and roommates, a pair of millennial besties trying to get by in difficult times. She is having #MeToo issues with her boss, while Michael is an online chat host who might be growing a little too close to one of his clients, an American businessman named Saddo (Germann) who prefers he speak to him like a little girl and call him “Daddy.” Hovering over Michael on the large screen, Saddo opines, “Oh, I miss you all the time. I miss you hard. I miss you so I ache all over, sweetheart, and I don’t know what I can do to feel better.” Michael responds, “Do you have the panties?”
Meanwhile, Justine cannot gain the footing she believes she has earned at work. “That’s all I do anyway these days, pander to fucking stupid weird men who can’t get it up on their own, even if it’s metaphorically speaking,” she complains. “Your way at least there’s some dignity to it. It’s out in the fucking open. I should do what you do.” All three characters’ situations threaten to run out of control as they seek different forms of companionship and dependency that might not be the best for any of them.

Michael (Jassa Ahluwalia) and Saddo (Greg Germann) have a unique relationship in Herding Cats (photo by Danny Kaan)
Produced by OHenry Productions and Stellar, Herding Cats is directed by Anthony Banks (The Girl on the Train, Raz), who helmed the original production eleven years ago. Banks makes it feel as if Coxon’s (The Danish Girl, The Shoemaker’s Wife) play was written during the Covid-19 crisis, organically incorporating aspects of social distancing and physical and psychological isolation. Be sure to log on early to watch as the play gets ready to start; you can see a few heads in the seats; it is performed in front of a limited audience, and the wait reminds you of what it is like to be in a theater, the excitement building before the actors take the stage. Also, beaming in Germann from California stresses the distance and disconnectedness that have been palpable since March 2020. Susan Kulkarni designed the costumes (Justine’s are a hoot), with lighting by Howard Hudson, video by Andrzej Goulding, sets by Grace Smart, and sound by Ben and Max Ringham.
Drama Desk nominee Melville (Pops, Iphigenia in Splott) is appealing as Justine, facing impending disaster as she cannot stop tumbling deeper down the rabbit hole. Ahluwalia (Unforgotten, Peaky Blinders) is touching as Michael, who is not as comfortable in his life as he might think he is. And Germann (Grey’s Anatomy, Assassins) is creepy good as Saddo, who is not necessarily the pervert he initially comes off as. This revival is of the moment, dealing with personal and professional ills that have plagued all of us in some way over the last fifteen months. “Dark when I leave in the fucking . . . still dark when I get home,” Justine tells Michael. “In between: herding cats. And there still isn’t time for anything. It’s still fucking mental all day. And then I get back here and I haven’t got time to do even the laundry. I haven’t even got any clean fucking clothes. I’ve run out of knickers completely — it’s like they just vanish.” You’ll know just what she means.







