.png)
Going to see KATE at Pasadena Playhouse, I went in pretty blind. I was not familiar with Kate Berlant’s work. I only knew she was a comedienne and this was a one-woman show, however, my friend had clued me in that it promised to be funny and interesting no matter what. Uh, check and check – and then some! Not only was she so funny as to evoke spit take, tears streaming down your face kind of laughter, but Berlant has created something so utterly unique as to defy categorization or description. In other words, you simply need to see it. You are in for an 80 minute, intermissionless ride of storytelling, satire, physical comedy, and metatheatre the likes of which you’ve never seen.
Berlant’s dancer body and rubbery facial expressions morph themselves into various incarnations of a version of herself, and people who have populated her life, in her cockeyed, satirical perspective to increasing degrees of hilarity. She’s been compared to Lucille Ball and Jim Carrey for her physicality and malleable face – very true, however, I found her to be something refreshingly new and completely her own.
Berlant is giving you an immersive theatrical experience while simultaneously making fun of the theatrical experience, herself, actors, the film industry, L.A., New York, Santa Monica, and even Pasadena gets a hilarious dig or two. She takes you on the journey of little Kate discovering her father’s camcorder and being told by her mother that her style, her whole being, is too big, too broad for the camera – which launches her on a twisty road that ultimately leads back to…the camera. On the way she reinvents herself in New York City – her dance moves at an NYC club are worth the ticket price alone – becoming a stage performer as she works her way through her self-doubt and fear of the camera. It is an electrifying, silly, agile, and fiercely smart performance that is full of surprises and so many laughs you will wish you had a pause button so you can catch up on what you missed. It’s a wildly funny and oh so subversive takedown of self-serious performance art.
Bo Burnham, creator of the lockdown hit “Inside”, shrewdly directs here, bringing out the funny in building comedy through repetition and literal mirroring – at times she is being filmed live on stage and projected on a screen behind her in real, albeit sometimes delayed, time. It’s a genius partnership that yields a celebratory exploration and exposé of the rampant superficiality that permeates our society today.
Berlant is an emerging, powerhouse talent not to be missed.
KATE by Kate Berlant runs through February 11, 2024 at Pasadena Playhouse located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. Tickets start at $39 Online at pasadenaplayhouse.org By phone at 626-356-7529 or in person at Pasadena Playhouse Box Office.
Performance Schedule: Wednesday-Friday evenings at 8:00 p.m. Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m; Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, February 11 – 2:00pm and 7:00pm
