Kathy Maniura review: Goofy character comedy finds huge joy in the mundane
Image: Akta Photography
How good can someone really be at judging what sort of person an object is? Turns out the answer is really good, actually.
After a complication with tonsillitis left her lungs full of pus (seriously, you’ll never guess how much pus!), Kathy awoke from general anaesthetic with this unusual ability. Her gift may not be as easily transferable as, for example, being able to speak Spanish, but who needs transferable when you have a little fabric bag of tiny props?!
[I think it’s important for reviewers to be clear about any biases that they have when writing, so this would be the right time for me to reveal that I love tiny versions of big things, and it’s possible this might have clouded my judgement by up to 0.3% — but that’s it, I am a professional after all.]
From a paper straw (pick me girl who gets floppy when she drinks too much), to a bottle of Sicilian wine (New York gangster smoking a cork like a cigar), she lets the audience decide the order of play in Objectified by choosing from the bag. This is goofy character comedy at its most joyful, and the perfect showcase for Kathy’s seemingly endless array of characters and spot-on accents.
The extra levels of audience interaction she brings in makes this feel like we are five-year-olds doing show-and-tell and she’s everyone’s favourite teacher. Audience interaction strikes fear into the hearts of the majority of people, but this show is one of the many at this year’s Fringe where the interactions are nothing but lovely. You know that’s the case when you have volunteers from the back of the room and people clambering over seats to be part of the fun.
Kathy has a pretty brilliant mechanism for tying the whole hour together and doesn’t abandon her characters to a series of isolated vignettes, but ultimately the best thing about her show is its silliness and her total commitment.
While the awakening from surgery may not really have left Kathy with this very specific superpower, it did highlight the importance of one of her existing abilities: seeing the hilarious aspects of even the most serious situations, and finding joy in the mundane.
Kathy Maniura: Objectified is at Gilded Balloon Teviot (Wee Room), 4:40pm, until August 28th. Tickets here
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