Swings

Swings are performers who do not have one specific role in the show, instead they understudy the ensemble roles. Cats has run between having no swings, but named ensemble characters who can be cut from the show should the performer need to understudy a more prominent role, to running with 4-5 swings, to having more swings backstage than performers onstage - the Hamburg production at one point listed 27 swings to 22 characters onstage.

In general theatre terms, swings cover ensemble roles while the ensemble understudy principal roles, leading to a "domino effect" as three or four people move roles to cover one principal absence. However in the case of Cats, certainly in productions with a larger number of swings, the swings often cover principal roles as well as ensemble.

Sometimes in Cats the swings have their own distinctive costumes and character names.

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 with the swings, as often a short swing would need to cover a tall character or vice versa. Each of the six swings had a distinctive costume.

The three female swings have readily identifiable markings - the tall girl looks somewhat like a pale Cassandra, often called "Greycat" or "Nameless Brown Queen/NBQ" depending on the colouring of her costume which varied from silver to tan. One looks similar to Jemima but with much less colour and more white on her body, sometimes called "Almost Jemima/AJ". The last swing looks rather like Victor, a dark brown Tabby, sometimes known as "Tabbygirl". 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.

Australian Swings
The Australian production, and subsequent productions modelled on it, names all the swings, which can cause confusion when comparing to other productions.

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