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.
In 2020, she designed face masks for the Korean production to allow the cast to stroll through the audience while following the South Korean COVID-19 safety measures.
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[]
Productions involved[]
UK Tour 1 - 1989-1990 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
London - 1989-2002 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Zürich - 1991-1993 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
UK Tour 2 - 1993-1995 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Euro Tour - 1994-1996 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Antwerp - 1996 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Film version - 1997 - Make-Up Designer
Copenhagen - 2002 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Berlin - 2002-2004 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
UK Tour 3 - 2003-2009 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Düsseldorf - 2004-2005 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Moscow - 2005-2006 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
German Tour - 2005-2006 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Dutch Tour - 2006-2007 - Make-Up Developer
Paris - 2015-2016 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Blackpool/London - 2015-2016 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
UK Tour 5/International Tour - 2016-2020 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Asia Tour - 2017-2018 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Vienna - 2019-2021 - Make-Up Developer/Supervisor
Korea Tour - 2020-2021 - Mouth-Nose-Mask Designer
Productions using her designs[]
German Tent Tour - 2010-2013 (supervised by Maria Cave)
UK Tour 4 - 2013-2014 (supervised by Maria Cave)
London - 2014-2015 (supervised by Maria Cave)
Broadway - 2016-2017 - Make-Up Contributor
US Tour 6 - 2019-2020 - Make-Up Contributor
Korea Tour - 2020-2021
Gallery[]
Makeup Charts[]
Backstage[]
Behind the Scenes on the Cats Video, 1997[]
Behind the Scenes - The Ins and Outs of Costumes and Makeup Film 1997
Behind the Scenes on the Cats Video, 1997
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.
