If you’re feline like a night out on the tiles this week, Elephant and Castle’s Coronet may have a purr-fect evening for you – Catnip, London’s first ever cat video festival, writes Kirsty Purnell…
Catnip is a celebration of the greatest cat videos out there and awards will be given to the best of the best, with categories including Most Cunning Saboteur and Best Singer.
“People can expect a huge, cat-themed party to celebrate the global trend of power that cats have over us today,” said James Elphick, Creative Director of Third Mind Productions, which specialises in “unusual and immersive” experiences.
The festival is inspired by an online language dreamed up by James and his writer pal, which consisted entirely of cat memes, pictures and videos.
“We discovered a visual language entirely made up of cats that we used in lieu of actual conversations,” said James, “It took a little tweaking to get to our launch event this Friday, and we are very excited to see what happens next,” he said.
Although it’s a celebration of our furry friends, James advises that it’d be best to leave your felines at home. “With all the loud music, lights and revelry, it’s probably the last place a cat should be!” he said.
Catnip will also have DJ sets throughout the night plus a range of circus and cabaret acts.
For all other tastes, there’s a cat meme gallery, arcade games, walkabout purrformers and a cat gymnasium.
“In the Cat Gym room we have a human sized cat tree designed by talented artist Kat Buchanan inhabited by cat characters, alongside an exclusive album listening session of Music For Cats by David Teie and a ‘kitty litter’ ball pit,” said James.
Choosing the Coronet – and Elephant and Castle – as the host for Catnip was a no-brainer for James.
“We did our first few events at Corsica Studios over ten years ago, and have loved the area as our spiritual home,” he said, “It’s great to bring something as silly and wonderful as this event to Elephant and Castle.”
Catnip will run from 10pm-6am on Friday 25 November and tickets can be purchased from www.nip.cat for £16.95.