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Hurricane Katie

 
Caitlin Rebecca Review by Caitlin Rebecca 3 Published: 3 Aug 2017 Parliament Street Show Dates: 31 Jul 2017-31 Jul 2017

Funny Women’s ‘One to Watch, 2016’ bustles, belts and lunges her way through Hurricane Katie with showmanship and boundless energy. Greeting the audience by handing out sweets in a bright red homemade boiler suit and pumping out AC/DC, this introduction, like the show, feels like a paint-by-numbers of how to get an audience on side. Energy and personality carry the show, which starts off strong, but by the end, the shtick gets old.

The comedy circuit is, for better or worse, saturated with comics trying say very important things about themselves and the world around them and Hurricane Katie is the very antithesis of this.

Charmingly childlike, Katie Pritchard is certainly refreshing. The comedy circuit is, for better or worse, saturated with comics trying say very important things about themselves and the world around them and Hurricane Katie is the very antithesis of this. The show is hugely fun – parodies of Disney songs, Shirley Bassey and Kate Bush impressions are certainly the highlight. The show lacks structure however; Pritchard flits from topic to topic without rhyme or reason. At various points early on in the show I find myself thinking ‘why?’, for my mind to respond ‘for simple, joyous, self-indulgent silliness. And that’s okay’. It’s nice to find a comic who seems to live and breathe entertainment.

It’s unfortunate however, in a comedy show, to be more impressed by the performer’s vocal talents than the jokes themselves. Some punch lines need to be worked on and while generally the parodies were well-written and excellently executed, some feel like an afterthought and with one long build-up ending in an unoriginal pun I begin to find the songs a little tiring. Having built up expectations in the first half, the second is less inspired and Pritchard loses the audience mid-way through with a five minute song about vampires that was comparatively light on jokes. The final number about lettuce is, however, inventive and hilarious. Similarly, the joke of doing something badly, purposefully and with an air of misplaced confidence gets stale and Pritchard’s pseudo profundity, while initially entertaining began to feel overused. When nothing new is delivered, the show feels like an actor trying to do alternative comedy – many alternative comics often have an edge to them which holds the audience even in the more surreal or bemusing moments and unfortunately it seems Pritchard lacks this and problems with momentum make the show difficult to stay engaged with until the very end.

Katie Pritchard is clearly a talented performer, whose vocal abilities shine through and whose performance boasted some show-stopping numbers. However, the show itself needs some structure and focus to keep the audience rapt and perhaps it’s necessary for moments of solemnity to provide balance against the undeniable force of Hurricane Katie.  

Amir Nisi

Caitlin Rebecca

A History of Art student at the University of York, Caitlin has years of directing and performing experience under her belt, especially as a stand-up comedian.

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