.gif "GIVE US PAWS: \"Sometimes, they do not feel like performing a trick.\"")
Working like a cat is very different from working like a dog. A dog, for example, is required to do whatever it has been trained to do and gets sent back to its kennel afterward. The cats of the Moscow Cats Theatre, however, dine on Iamb and chicken, often enjoying hotel hospitality while on the road. And if they don’t feel up to parading on their front paws in a kitty "handstand" or dancing in a Russian folk outfit for a given show . . . well, as Moscow Cats Theatre founder Yuri Kuklachev explains through a translator, "Another cat is led out on stage."
"Sometimes, they do not feel like performing a trick," adds Kuklachev, who is bringing 26 of his artistically inclined kitties to the John Hancock Hall for five shows starting next Thursday. But he acknowledges that "they know that when they are on stage, they are expected to perform." How exactly the feline thespians communicate their disinclination to act on any given day gets lost in translation. Never mind — by all accounts, their co-star and coach knows his ailurophilic basics. "I never train cats. First, I observe the cat and I look at what the cat likes to do and what she enjoys. After they perform the trick, they are rewarded with food and treats."
Kuklachev’s act began in 1971, when he fell for a starving stray. That cat was earning scraps from bystanders by walking on her hind legs and turning somersaults, and Kuklachev, who had trained at clown school, realized that humans and cats make natural comedic foils. Soon he and that feline, whom he named Strelka, were performing with the Moscow State Circus. Strelka passed on after about 15 years with Kuklachev, but she’d made her mark: in 1990 her collaborator founded the Moscow Cats Theatre. His troupe has since grown to include 120 performing felines, two dogs, a staff of four veterinarians, and 10 cat caretakers.
Among the touring company is his personal favorite, a paw-standing orange-white-and-black beauty named Marusya, who sleeps with him. "She protects me from other cats with a little bit of jealousy. Marusya is the star of the show." But she’s not the only one. Kat balances on a ball wearing a Russian folk costume; Skripka and Max do high jumps; Tamara and Valera walk on a tightrope-like horizontal pole, and "Ksusha performs a trick, when she is pushing the ball with paws."
Gender could seem to be one of the casualties of translation, but Kuklachev confirms that many of these cats are indeed female. "Females are easier to work with than male cats. Both genders are willing to perform, and they all can do tricks, but male cats can show more temperament." Besides, he notes, though he continues to adopt some cats, he counts on the offspring of his unneutered performers for the next generation of Moscow Cats Theatre recruits.
MOSCOW CATS THEATRE | John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St, Boston | Jan 27-29 | $46-$56 | 617.931.2000
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On the Web:
Moscow Cats Theatre: http://www.moscowcatstheatre.com/
