Lally Katz Has Some Stories She Wants To Tell You In Person – Review

Bakehouse Theatre, Thu Oct 30 It starts promisingly enough. A glitzty golden backdrop and some curious stage directions marked on the floor add an air of anticipation. A bright-eyed and vivacious Katz arrives on stage and immediately draws on an amusing story from childhood to highlight her difficulty as a young child migrating from the US to Australia. Her narrative quickly moves to the backstory about successful plays she has authored and how she came to write Stories I Want To Tell You In Person. It initially felt like a preamble to the main event, and that the real show would begin soon. But this was the main event. Katz takes us on a journey through her troubled love life and her quest to realise both her romantic ambitions and her dream of being a successful playwright. We are taken to New York where she shares her gullible attraction to psychics. The portrayal of Cookie the psychic is great. Her telling of life as a half-Jew is an interesting twist, and her desire to settle down with a character she refers to as 'the full Jew' has comedic potential. But it never really hits the heights as comedy. The stage equivalent of asides to camera are a nice touch, as are the conversations with her unseen subconscious, but the whole work suffers from a lack of substance. The plot (her life story leading up to this production) is interesting enough, but a lack of emotional investment in her predicament makes it difficult for the audience to really care. She prefers instead to maintain a kind of humorous indifference about her adventures, and apart from a couple of funny characters – Cookie and Anna the Hungarian neighbour – it doesn't really work. She seems stranded halfway between comedy and serious narrative. This whole production is based on the premise that this tale will be of interest beyond the world of theatre (there's lots of name dropping) and I'm not sure that's a safe assumption. It feels like an extended dramatic version of the selfie. Granted, this is the age of the selfie, but if you're going to offer an extended dramatic piece about your own life you need to be pretty sure that the tale is worth telling or well told. Katz is endearing, and has a lovely stage presence. People who work in theatre, have connections with Jewish culture or an interest in psychics may find this show satisfying, but I'm not sure about the public at large. by Michael Coghlan Stories I Want To Tell You In Person continues at the Bakehouse Theatre until Sat Nov 8. Book at BASS on 131 246 or bass.net.au. Image courtesy of Heidrun Lohr