Bizarre Cats bonanza leaves Whitley Bay audience’s heads spinning

Linus Karp brings his one of a kind Cats-inspired show to Whitley Bay
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As you walk along Whitley Road on a blowy Saturday evening, you could easily pass the cosy Laurel Theatre and never even think about the bizarre TED talk that could be going on upstairs.

Two floors above the street, a small crowd has gathered in the independent theatre to hear Linus Karp explain how 2019 Hollywood mega flop Cats has changed his life.

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The tongue-in-cheek one-man show, catchily titled 'how to live a jellicle life, life lessons from the 2019 hit movie musical 'cats'', lasts just over an hour and takes the format of the popular TED talk series.

Whilst Karp is deadpan in his delivery that the filmWhitley Bay"> "changed my life", the show is propelled by knowing winks to the audience and a whole lot of kitsch.

The performer runs through the film's main characters, breaking down their attributes and flaws, such as a 'cancelled' James Cordon and 'sexy, sexy, sexy' Jason Derulo.

The film is contextualised too with snide remarks at Number 10 Downing Street parties and an analysis into why global pop star Taylor Swift is now living her life as Cats character Bombalurina.

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Karp's monologues, dance breaks and chats with the audience are all punctuated by the PowerPoint which takes centre stage of the show.

Above the jokes and corny dance moves that the actor delivers, it's the comedy in the PowerPoint's animation that provokes the biggest laughs from the audience.

In the best way, the slideshow looks as if it has been put together by an eight-year-old let loose on their parent's computer.

Every animation available is used at some point, accompanied by diagrams of the film drawn on Microsoft Paint and clumsily edited photos of Cats characters' faces onto celebrities.

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The PowerPoint is at its best during a premature minute’s silence for the death of Sir Ian McKellen’s Cats character Gus, which is greeted with snorts from the crowd.

The only word to describe the evening has to be bizarre - but, anyone who has climbed the stairs of The Laurel Theatre with a ticket to Karp's show in hand knew exactly what they signed up for, and it more than delivered.