Swings/Swing Characters

Some productions of Cats give the swings their own distinctive costumes and often their own character names. The practical application for this is that one performer may cover 4-5 small roles, and rather than have 5 separate costumes he can wear the swing costume for all the roles. This is also particularly useful when a female swing has to cover a male character, or vice versa.

In Australian-based productions, the swing characters appear onstage in certain scenes and interact with the audience. In UK-based productions, the characters are not given names and only appear onstage while covering a named role, except for special occasions. The UK Swings often appear in the official photocall as a means of giving the performers their credit due, however these images do not represent the performance. Recent UK productions use the Electra and George (Palladium Pouncival) costumes for swings, and additional swings mix and match elements of extra costumes for photoshoot costumes.

The Oslo 1985 production named their swing characters "Kvesesta", "Potefar", and "Godnattakatt", as well as crediting a "Young Grizabella/Swing".

London Swings
In the early years of the Original London production, there was an ensemble of un-named kitten characters, some of whom grew into named roles and others became swing costumes. Characters were cast strictly to height, the adults being notably taller than the kittens. This led to issues of costume fitting when a short swing would need to cover a tall character or vice versa. Each of the six swings had a distinctive costume, but if they have official names, they are unknown. For ease of reference they have been given nicknames by fans.

The Swings usually featured in the photocall for the brochure in the big group shots until the late 1990s. However Summer Strallen, a swing wearing NBQ, featured in the 2001 photos.

"NBQ"
This tall girl looks somewhat like a pale Cassandra, she is often called "Greycat" or "Nameless Brown Queen - NBQ" depending on the colouring of her costume which varied from silver to tan. She is often used when the tall swing needs to play a kitten, such as Etcetera or Jemima.

"AJ"
This Swing looks similar to Jemima but with much less colour and more white on her body, sometimes called "Almost Jemima - AJ". She has been worn on occasions such as a female swing playing Carbucketty.

"Tabbygirl"
The last female swing looks rather like Victor, a dark brown Tabby, sometimes known as "Tabbygirl". She is often worn by the swing who covers more vocal heavy / adult roles, so appears more mature than a kitten.

The three male swings are harder to identify, as their unitard markings varied enormously and sometimes looked very like the ensemble boys. Their wig designs however were more consistent, but not necessarily paired with the same costume design.

"Patches"
The first of the boys has very defined patches in his makeup, and his unitard often resembles Admetus; however he's kitten height where Admetus is usually one of the tallest males.

"Calico"
The second swing boy sometimes resembles a male Etcetera, a calico male (which in real cats is a genetic anomaly, Calico cats are 99.9% female), with orange and grey stripes, and a strong orange and a black patch in his bangs.

"Caramel"
The last male swing is a tall boy often in rich brown and caramel colours, and can be mistaken for Victor.

Walking Cover
In addition to the Swings in London, the Walking Cover often appears in cast photos. However he does not need his own costume - the two roles he covers appear in their "Song" costumes, Old Deuteronomy and Gus. The walking cover can wear the "Basic Deuteronomy" costume worn by Old Deut for the opening number, or Asparagus' ensemble costume without causing any visible doubling up of characters.

Named Swings
The 1989 Australian Tour, and subsequent productions modelled on it, named all the swings, which can cause confusion when comparing to other productions as most of the names used have appeared as full ensemble characters elsewhere.

The swings, usually listed as "CATS Chorus" (not to be confused with the term referring to booth singers), each has their own costume, name, and personality, and function as on-stage ensemble, filling in large group dances and singing ensemble, unless the actor is required to cover another role, or is off themselves, in which case the chorus character will be cut for that performance.

Admetus, Bill Bailey, Carbucketty, Electra, Etcetera, Exotica, George, Grumbuskin, Jemima, Jonathan, Murad, Noilly Prat, Olivia, Quaxo and Victor have all been used as names for swings.

Bill Bailey
The performer usually covers the acrobatic male roles such as Mungojerrie and Tumblebrutus.

Carbucketty
"A playful cat, often jumping around." The performer usually covers the dance-heavy male roles such as Mistoffelees, Plato / Macavity, Pouncival.

Electra
"An orange-and-black kitten who is a good friend of Etcetera and also likes Rum Tum Tugger."

Etcetera
"A happy, energetic kitten, very infatuated with Rum Tum Tugger." The performer usually covers the dance-heavy female roles such as Victoria, Cassandra and Tantomile.

Exotica
The name "Exotica" was first used to create a cameo role for Femi Taylor in the 1998 film of Cats - in this instance Exotica was not a swing. However the name has since been used for named swings in large productions.

George
"Young male cat, lively and mischievous." The performer usually covers the vocal-heavy adult male roles such as Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger.

Jemima
"A young female cat who is full of curiosity of the outside world." The performer usually covers the female kitten roles such as Sillabub.

Murad
"A small male cat that often appears in high places." The performer usually covers the adult male roles such as Skimbleshanks and Alonzo.

Noilly Prat
"A charming young female cat." The performer usually covers the adult female roles such as Demeter.

Olivia
"A young female cat." The performer usually covers the adult female roles.

Quaxo
"A young male cat." The performer usually covers the adult male roles such as Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger. The name Quaxo has also appeared as an ensemble character in early productions, and the name is used as an alternate identity for Mistoffelees in London-based productions.

Victor
The performer usually covers the elderly male roles such as Old Deuteronomy and Gus.