'Poop in boots' scandal has Cats cast hissing

“We had a crisis meeting last weekend and an internal investigation is underway,” producer Lars Damberg told the Expressen newspaper.

Since opening at Stockholm’s Cirkus theatre on September 9th, Cats has played to full houses and been a hit with critics.

But backstage, everyone remains on edge following accusations of sexual harassment by a male cast member.

Several female cast members allege that the man in question has made a number of inappropriate comments and even gone as far as groping them behind the scenes.

Tensions reached a new high at the weekend when the accused man returned to his locker to find someone had filled his shoes with excrement and left a note reading “stop harassing us”.

Members of the Cats cast have been told to keep quiet about the details of the incident, but actor Per Myrberg confirmed that the mood backstage has become “really bloody uncomfortable”.

After first denying any knowledge that all was not well with the Cats cast, producer Damberg later admitted to Expressen that he was looking into the allegations.

But he said that prior to incident at the weekend, he was unaware of the sexual harassment accusations, citing the cast’s large size and wide age range.

“Things can happen. And the girls are so young; they’re as young as my children. So it can be hard to talk to an old man like me,” Damberg told the newspaper.

He stressed, however, that he plans to investigate the allegations thoroughly, adding that anyone found to have sexually harassed other cast members would no longer be allowed to continue working on the musical.