All the Things I Lied About at The Wardrobe Theatre

Starring in a self-appointed TED talk, complete with headset and red carpet, Katie Bonna leads us as warriors of truth, in this “post-truth” world.

Seems pretty big, doesn’t it? Almost too much for a Monday night. Fear not, Katie Bonna has got us.
Bringing All The Things I Lied About (#ATTILA) to The Wardrobe Theatre’s very welcoming Blahblahblah space, Katie Bonna talks frankly about her own tangential relationship with honesty, pretty-well-honestly, holding her own lies up to a magnifying glass that might not leave her in the most flattering light. She speaks about her infidelities, moments of cruelty done supposedly in kindness, with a fresh and funny voice that veers to heart-breaking and back again, confidently on the right side of melodrama. It’s this vulnerability that sold me on her, even in those few parts that felt a little staged compared to other, more genuine moments. Her charm is relentless, refreshing.
Katie tells us that lying is as innate to humans as breathing, that being honest is the choice. Using soundbites, Russian dolls, water pistols, and a hilarious impression of her dad (described as the lovechild of Jeremy Clarkson and Alan Partridge), Katie effortlessly builds on this statement of fact: of course, everybody lies- and peels away layers and layers of deception, including- and most painfully, the lies we tell ourselves.

As she began, I feared that ATTILA would be a little too big for its boots; having a go at Trump feels like something that everyone has had a go at to varying degrees of success- we can all talk about how scary it feels for a man like to have his finger on the red button, we can talk loudly and generally about what the world looks like now with him in power. Actually, for me, it’s Katie’s appraisal of Trump as something insidious, something dangerous to us personally, that is where the work thrives. Without spoiling, the comparisons to her own father, herself, the prolonged aftermath of her own family conflict, were what drove this piece for me.

Katie seamlessly moves from huge, global, grandiose lies told to us all to painfully intimate ones with a talent that left me awestruck. The writing and performance is sharp, candid, and important. No lie.

 

You can see what else is coming up at The Wardrobe Theatre on their website

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