Stand-up comedian, Katie Bonna bares all with her TEDdy talk.
Katie Bonna returns to The Fringe positing an imperative moral rhetorical question – ‘Would the World be a better place if we were all honest?’ Let us hope it is not specifically rhetorical otherwise those sixty minutes of audience internal ruminations are going to drag on a little in reflective silence.
In 2012 Katie Bonna, with co-writer/performer Richard Marsh, bagged a Fringe First gong with their alternative Rom Com ‘Dirty Great Love Story’ that also posited a conundrum – ‘Can a one-night stand last a life time?’ It transferred to The Old Vic and The Soho Theatre, and then made a critical hit at The Brits of Broadway, New York 2013.
Now the Brit is back with a brand new show which, on the surface, appears to be a TED talk on the science of lying. However, the clue is in the show’s title. TED have not actually asked her to do one – yet. TED is an acronym for a global forum sharing ideas and innovative thinking in Technology, Entertainment and Design. Part obsessional, part confessional (Bonna admits to duping her sister into drinking wee and part party to repeated infidelities) she unravels her personal peccadillos in order to confront humanity’s obsession with fibs. The Edinburgh Reporter caught up with Katie Bonna. Keep in mind throughout however, Oscar Wilde’s retort to the idiom, ‘The pure and simple truth,’ was ‘The truth is rarely plain and never simple.’
TER: Given the title of your show and the implications of its subject matter, can we expect you to answer any of our questions honestly?
KB: (There hangs a pause for a hearty, reflective laugh. It is still only 10.30am) I think that the only thing I have learned from writing this show is that the truth is often subjective. It’s quite a difficult question!
TER: This strapline – ‘Would the World be a better place if we were all honest?’ Avoiding any spoilers, do you actually arrive at a conclusion?
KB: Ah! The strapline has changed now, it’s ‘Part TED Talk, Part Confession, Mostly Lies.’
TER: No teasers then?
KB: To be honest, no! (see above Oscar!)
TER: Did your success with ‘Dirty Great Love Story’ have a direct impact on where your career stands now?
KB: Oh, a huge amount. Entirely actually! I don’t think I would have taken a show to Edinburgh if I didn’t have Richard (Marsh). He’s a real force of Nature. He encourages and motivates me to do what I just wouldn’t do otherwise.
TER: Tell us some thing about your interest, involvement in TED. Or were you just fibbing?
KB: I’m just a big fan girl! I just enjoy listening to the TED talks (many network platforms support these). I find them very therapeutic as well as inspirational. They often trigger unusual ideas when I’m in the creative process of writing.
TER: What was the last white lie you told and why? Be honest now!
KB: The last white lie I told, well I haven’t been up long enough to have told one today yet. (allegedly). It would’ve been yesterday. The one I do most easily, and many people probably, is when people ask you how you are. ‘Oh, I’m fine, I’m great thank you.’ Which was a lie yesterday because I had such a bad hangover!’
TER: Finally, what is your response to Epimenides’ Cretan self-referencing paradox – ‘I am a liar’
KB: What!?
TER: It is a contradiction in terms – how can you trust a liar to be telling the truth that they are a liar?
KB: Is that a question? Yes but then no, Maybe. What time is it?
The Edinburgh Reporter suggested she might keep it up her sleeve for a heckler put-down – were any to be so foolish.
All The Things I Lied About.
Katie Bonna
Theatre (comedy, spoken word)
Roundabout @ Summerhall (Venue 26)
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/all-the-things-i-lied-about
