Adelaide Fringe. La Boheme. 19 Feb 2013
I was enticed to attend by the blurb – an opportunity to find out what it like to be Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge. Writer and performer Katie Reddin-Clancy does this in such an oblique way, I didn’t get it until the next morning. She instead gave us a fair description of what it’s like to be an actor and looking for love; and incidentally, one of her gigs is to imitate Kate at public events when the Duchess is otherwise indisposed.
However, Katie is a fair resemblance of the Duchess so it’s easy to imagine what Kate might have been like on her days off before she met her prince; it brings her considerably down-to-earth. This deceit wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if Katie wasn’t such a doppelganger of the Duchess.
Katie is a stand-up comic and this is her first solo theatrical performance. She exudes a vivacious and attractive personality, and couches it in a number of amusing female roles individualised by costumes, mannerisms and terrific vocalisations. I didn’t always get the drift of the purpose of the characters - or even the narrative arc of the evening - but they were amusing nonetheless.
The session ends with a bit of stand up and some expositional material, but my experience at the Fringe is that things aren’t always as they seem, so I didn’t believe a word of it. An amusing evening of smoke and mirrors.
David Grybowski
When: 19 to 24 Feb
Where: La Boheme
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
