Liz Kingsman: ‘I don’t want to be a spokesperson for boring women’
Liz Kingsman is really clever and talented. Her one-woman show, ‘One Woman Show’, is about to make her famous. Unlike the version of herself she plays on stage, she deserves the incoming bombardment of adulation.
This is a show about Liz Kingsman putting on a show. The production in question, ‘Wildfowl’, is a laser-guided parody of the kind of dismal confessional theatre that appeared in abundance after the success of ‘Fleabag’. Liz Kingsman (the real one, not the character) clearly finds all that stuff shallow, mortifying and hypocritical. Luckily, because of her aforementioned talent and cleverness, she is capable of what I can only describe as next-level piss-taking.
Like David Brent or Alan Partridge, Kingsman (the character) is an oblivious, pompous hypocrite. A classic British grotesque, brought bang up to date. Throughout ‘One Woman Show’ we see her bend the truth, cut corners, angle for undeserved pity and commit several utterly atrocious crimes against both poetry and dance. Crucially, jokes are delivered relentlessly. Clever jokes, dumb jokes, physical jokes, absurd jokes, jokes that rely on sound effects, jokes about sex, jokes about jokes about sex. It must be galling for certain comedians to have Kingsman take the mickey out of their craft so effectively and astutely. It must be downright depressing seeing her do it while also being far funnier than they could ever hope to be.
Kingsman’s nailed this. Watching a pathetic, desperate show-off attempting to have their cake and eat it has rarely been funnier. The meta stuff, blurring the line between actor and creation, feels prime Woody Allen-esque. Kingsman (the character) wants to capitalise on society’s endless appetite for superficial empowerment and marketable feminism. Kingsman (the real one) basically wants to do the same thing, and that in itself becomes a source of comedy.
What else to say? I never saw the earlier runs, but I enjoyed what I assume are Brand New Jokes that rely on the current theatre setting. If you can get a ticket go.