Soho theatre, London
The electrifying Berlant recounts her fictional life in this sharp and silly show directed by Bo Burnham
Comedies don’t come hipper than this New York transfer from Kate Berlant. Its director is the prodigious talent behind lockdown hit Inside, Bo Burnham; Florence Pugh and Phoebe Bridgers were in its first-night crowd. To some extent, it’s a case of do believe the hype: Berlant is one of comedy’s most electrifying, distinctive talents. Her show, titled Kate Berlant is Kate, is a success qualified only by comparison with her even-more-brilliant standup – and with Liz Kingsman’s 2021 hit One-Woman Show, whose mickey-take of self-advertising solo performance this unmistakably echoes.
The show begins in the foyer, plastered with glorifying images of Berlant, and haunted by the 36-year-old herself, wearing a sign that reads: “Ignore me.” On stage, she recounts the supposed life story of this star-in-the-making, from young Kate’s romance with her absent dad’s camcorder, via the stifling of her talent by a hostile mum (“she smashed more than my camera that day; she smashed my dreams”) to Kate’s move to New York and a career on the stage. But the screen is her destiny, and – for the stoopidest of reasons – celluloid stardom remains tantalisingly out of reach.
