The marvellous Katie Arnstein (and her fruit pastilles) returns to the VAULT Festival with the intensely transferring and humorous The Long Run
“My first question is why her?”
If you’ve ever seen a Katie Arnstein present earlier than, then you already know that she’s going to provide you a candy as you arrive, and that she’s doing that as a result of she’s greater than possible going to make you cry. With her mom’s bowel most cancers analysis forming the impetus for her latest – The Long Run – there’s a deep effectively of emotion to attract on however in her inimitable type, there’s additionally a quiet however raucous vein of humour which implies there’s as a lot of an opportunity that there’s tears of laughter operating down your face as these of unhappiness.
Through her It’s A Girl trilogy (Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp, Sticky Door), Arnstein has developed her voice right into a pageant must-see. Her confessional-style intimacy takes completely zero prisoners as she delves into brutally private topic issues – sexual assault, societal misogyny, psychological well being, most cancers… -but as insightful as her observations are, they’re suffused with the dryest of wits, the smallest of particulars picked up on to tickle your funnybone mercilessly, every hour-long present stuffed with killer traces, a few of which you’ll be able to’t assist however miss since you’re laughing on the final (knock knock jokes on the Titanic remains to be killing me now).
With The Long Run, Arnstein turns to the utter upendedness that comes with the analysis of a cherished one. For her significantly, the inversion of the parental position turns into most putting as she escorts her mum all through a ferocious course of chemo. And within the psychological darkness of the hall the place you sit should you’re not having radiotherapy – a world in and of itself – an opportunity assembly results in the potential of gentle on the finish. Coping mechanisms, the hardest-won knowledge, the funniest fart joke you’ll hear all 12 months, the form of surprising however most significant friendships you can ever dream of and extra apart from.
Bec Martin’s pitch-perfect manufacturing makes good use of the intimacy of the Pit, even because it unfolds its surprises. With the viewers in traverse, there’s heat and inclusion on supply, even by way of the toughest occasions. And to provide us, and the performer, momentary respite, she additionally makes use of the stage to introduce a bit of respiration house, a bit of distance for us to compose ourselves. For while there’s uplifting humanity right here to make the soul soar, particularly because the present pivots to marathon operating late on, there’s additionally a tacit acknowledgement of how brutally this world can punch you within the abdomen with its unfairness. Achingly lovely in its generosity of spirit.