HOW do you play a cat?

If you’re trying to convince the world you’re an ordinary cat, you adopt some cat traits, some sofa scratching, some fur licking, a little haughty indifference perhaps?

But what it you’re starring in Cats, and indeed the cat you’re portraying is Grizabella?

“That is the challenge,” says a smiling Marianne Benedict, who plays the once top cat in the iconic show, returning to Glasgow next week.

“Grizabella is worn and tired. She remembers what it was like to be younger, when she was a beautiful cat. Now, her clothes are a bit tatty and she’s a little too old.”

The performer adds, with a little note of sadness in her voice; “And she can’t quite come to terms with that.”

So Grizabella is essentially Norma Desmond, the tragic actress in Sunset Boulevard who needs to live in the past?

“Yes, I guess you could say that,” says Marianne, grinning.

Cats has been around it seems almost as long as cats have had whiskers, (1981 to be precise).

Set in a junkyard, it follows the story of a tribe of “nimble, toe-tapping, dump-dwelling Jellicle cats who come together for an annual celebratory ball.”

We discover one of them will be chosen by their venerable leader, Old Deuteronomy, for the prestigious honour of ascending to the ‘heaviside layer’ and being reborn into a new, better life.

Grizabella, who sings the classic song Memory, is chosen for the full makeover. But of course, there is a price to pay.

That’s essentially the story. However we do get lots of character detail and of course the dancing is fabulous.

“The show is tough,” says Marianne, speaking on tour. “Yesterday we did two shows and it was the same the day before.

“It’s really demanding on the body. But I’m not complaining because this is what I’ve always wanted to do.

“And that’s why I’ve made sacrifices along the way. I didn’t go to university, I didn’t go out drinking with my teenage friends. I stayed home and looked after my voice.

“It was either have holidays - or pay for singing lessons. I chose the lessons.”

The performer who grew up in Oxford adds; “Even now, my husband (a sound engineer) and our two cats are left at home while I’m on tour.

“But I love it. It’s what I’ve I wanted to do since I was two.”

She adds, grinning; “And my mother tells me she new it from that early age.”

Marianne studied singing, acting and dancing. Meantime she learned the piano and the cello.

After studying at the prestigious Arts Ed drama college in London (she won graduated with the Hammersmith Award for Most Outstanding Student of the Year) Marianne went on to land a series of top musical theatre roles.

She starred in the likes of Gloria in Return to the Forbidden Planet and The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, which ran at the London Palladium.

However, a glance at her cc reveals she also starred in the theatre version of Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, as Debbie.

But hang on a minute? Wasn’t this once a porn movie, featuring a young lady with highly active libido, and a liking for lots of American football players?

“Look, I had no idea Debbie Does Dallas was originally a porn show when I went up for the part,” she says laughing.

“And I have to say the porn element disappeared when it was written as a musical theatre show.”

The musical focused on the adventures of the high schooler who hopes to become a cheerleader. And the sexual content was toned way down.

“It was great fun to do,” says Marianne. “But I have to admit I was nervous at first. It was staged in Oxford, which is where my mother lives. And I’m sure she had her initial concerns.”

Cats is certainly far more family-friendly.

“I love being in the show,” she says, “but the only drawback is that you have to spend an hour in make-up every day.

“With most theatre shows you can get it get it slapped on quickly and get on stage. Not Cats.”

What about break time between matinees? Can you nip out for a coffee or a sandwich and keep the whiskers on?

“No,” you can’t,” she says, grinning. “It’s written into the contract you can’t appear in public in costume at all.

“The only exception is if the theatre doesn’t allow for access from the dressing rooms to the back of the auditorium.

“If that’s the case, we have to go out on the street to come in and make out entrance. But no, Cats aren’t allowed out at all.”

And of course, if they were seen in the street it could spoil the illusion.

“Exactly,” she says. “Who wants to Grizabella eat a sandwich?”

*Cats, the King’s Theatre, September 13-17