Karen Dawson

Karen Dawson is a make-up designer who joined the CATS team in 1989 for the UK tour, where she was asked to create a stylised look for the production. Her designs have since been used for London and subsequent productions.

Karen designed the cats make-up on the faces of the actors, because after all the make-up will end up on the face - a 3D image. Once the make-up has been designed photographs of the front and the two sides of the face are then taken. The charts give detailed instructions for colors and shading. Each actor is given a make-up chart, a photograph of how they should look and a bag of the correct cosmetics.

Karen Dawson - Professional Resumé

Cats Credits
UK Tour 1 - 1989-1990

London - 1989-2002

Zürich - 1991-1993

UK Tour 2 - 1993-1995

Euro Tour - 1994-1996

Antwerp - 1996

Film version - 1997

Copenhagen - 2002

Berlin - 2002-2004

UK Tour 3 - 2003-2009

Düsseldorf - 2004-2005

Moscow - 2005-2006

German Tour - 2005-2006

Dutch Tour - 2006-2007

German Tent Tour - 2010-2013

UK Tour 4 - 2013-2014

London - 2014-2015

Blackpool/London - 2015-2016

UK Tour 5/International Tour - 2016

Asia Tour - 2017

Early Designs
Early "Cats" designs from Zurich, 1991. The production used the UK-style costumes but was otherwise based on the Vienna production. The makeup here works with Munkustrap and Alonzo both including browns in their costume design, unlike the monochrome look that has become normal.