Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 580
(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome back into a fabulous new whisper in the wings from stage whisper. We are continuing some amazing coverage of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We've gotten the chance to meet and hear about many, many of these great shows that are partaking in really the world's largest and most famous Fringe Festival. And today we've got another fearless show that we can't wait to share with you. Joining us to talk about this, we've got the creator and performer Katie Norris whose show Farm Fatale is playing July 31st through August 25th at Pleasant's courtyard below. And tickets to more information are available at edfringe.com. This is a great new work from an amazing artist and we can't wait to dive more into it. So let's not waste any more time. Let's welcome on our guest Katie. Welcome in to Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Such a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me. - I'm so excited you're here. I can't wait to learn more about this amazing new piece you've got, Farm Fatale. Can you tell us a little bit about what it's about? - Yeah, well, it's my first solo show. So I've never done an hour on my own before. It's stand up, it's songs. And it sort of tells the story of the last three or four years of my life. So since 2020. And I basically, well, went through quite a lot of hard life experiences and then I got a cat and a woman stole him for a while, a neighbor. She fed him and he left me for a short period of time. And it sent me insane. And it's kind of how I navigated that and how I ultimately get him back. And then the farm aspect is because I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. And yeah, but I'm not exactly your classic farmer. I'm more classically trained, I suppose. - I love it. First of all, shame on the neighbor. You should never take some of this cat. That is a child. - Thank you. - That is a child, I'm with you on that. And sick, I love that you are from a farm from a small town. A small town people unite on with you. - Not even a town babe. It was like literally like our neighbors were like 10 miles away. It was a farm, no bus route, no shops. We didn't even have internet. I think we had to like install our own like, I don't know what, however you make internet. - Well, what inspired you to attend this piece? - Well, I mean, I think a lot of it's to do with always being afraid to do something on my own. And then I think the pandemic made us realize, didn't it, what we kind of really wanted to do? And I think this show was in me for a long time, but I was scared to do it. Like I, I mean, do you remember when we lost? Obviously, you remember when we lost all of our work in 2020. So I was, me, I've been in a double act for 10 years. And it was like, we couldn't really work together anymore. Like the double act, we couldn't obviously meet. We couldn't do shows. And so I was kind of then forced to be like, well, what do I want to do for me? So I applied to be an art therapist, hated it. And then suddenly I was like, I'm just going to do stand up, even though there's no gigs on at the moment. My first stand up gig was on Zoom, like this. And then I just started doing those writing classes and stand up courses and slowly built myself up. And then this show has been something I've been working on for like, yeah, probably like three years, which makes it probably sound like it should be better than it's going to be, but it is, I promise you, it's been in the making for a long time. I'm sure it's fantastic, I love all of this. And I want to like snowball off of that and ask, what has it been like developing this piece? You mentioned it's been a three year journey. What has it been like getting it ready for the Edinburgh Fringe? - Yeah, it's been nerve-wracking, definitely. I've sometimes, I'm previewing it at the moment. So I'm traveling around, performing it to different people and in different spaces. And sometimes it feels amazing, but sometimes it just goes really badly. And then you have to go home and think about it for hours and hours and hours. And also, I'm trying to rest. I'm trying to have like today, for example, I've purposely not worked on the show at all because I think having breaks is really important, managing your time. It's just very hard when you're self-employed and you're the one constantly self-motivating to take those breaks because you just feel guilty when you're not working on a show. But it's something I'm thinking about all the time. And yeah, some of the previews have been going really well and then some of them have gone like worse, but you've caught me at a positive time because the last two previews have gone really well. So yeah, I've been excited. - That is so wonderful to hear. Now, with this great story that you're telling, it's a very personal story as it were. Is there a message or a thought you hope that audiences take away from you? - I'll say this from the rooftops. I'll sing this, don't feed my cat or anyone's cat because they are not supposed to be fed by other people, that's the message. But also there's loads of other messages in there. I try not to get too bogged down in themes. I try not to decide the theme when I, before I write, because then I'm stuck with the theme. So if I, do you know what I mean? It's like, if I say all the show's going to be about loss, then it stops me being able to just write what I think is funny every day. So the themes have come out organically. I say a lot of it's due about being single. I'm 34 and I'm single and I'm childless. Some of my mid 30s. And I think a lot of that is like navigating those anxieties and that sort of like internalized shame I sometimes have about not having a partner. And maybe what other people think of that or other people achieving milestones that maybe I haven't. I think that's quite, that resonates quite a lot in the show. And yeah, I guess like the, for me it's the kind of, the duality I have of sometimes being really happy single and then sometimes being really sad about it and how the two can live, the two can coexist. So it would be disingenuous for me to do a show that was like being single is amazing guys. Everyone should do it. I don't need a man because that's so disingenuous because sometimes I feel like that. But then the next day I'm like, I want a boyfriend and I feel sad. And so it's, I think it has a bit of that in there. And yeah, also just kind of it, for me it celebrates and also challenges this like cat lady stereotype. You know, Spinster lives alone with a cat, you know, poor her. I think it sort of challenges and embraces that, which I like because it is actually really nice. - I love those ideas though, that is brilliant. Well, that means my final question for this first part, which is who are you hoping have access to farm for child? - Who am I hoping is gonna come see it? - Yeah. - My future husband, obviously. (laughing) - A series of good looking rich men. You'd know anyone and everyone. I want a variety of people to come. I think there's something for everyone as well. Sorry, that's so general. But yeah, I haven't found my audience yet. I have in some ways, but like I'm not on TikTok massively. You know, I'm not on Instagram. And I feel like the landscape has changed a lot since 2020, especially with comedians. You know, like I'm coming up to Edinburgh this year with loads of TikTok and social media comedians and they sell out all of their previews. And so before they've even walked onto the stage, the audience are going, oh my God, it's him from Instagram or it's her from TikTok. Whereas I'm so used to going on stage and having to prove myself in the first five minutes to an audience that don't know who I am yet. So I don't know who's gonna come and see me, but I hope, yeah. I hope that I will resonate with them. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) For the second part of our interview, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better, pull the curtain back, if you will. And I would love to know, what are who inspires you? What playwrights, composers or shows have inspired you in the past? Or are just some of your favorites? - Someone asked me this last night, actually. And they're on one of my tours. And I was like, this is too hard a question, but it is. But I guess, I mean, off the top of my head, I suppose there's a British sketch group called The League of Gentlemen. Yeah, and they were the first, oh, and also there was another sketch group in the '90s and noughties called Smack the Pony. They were all women. The first sort of like female led sketch show on television. And then I also love a actress and comedy writer called Julia Davis. Everything that they do is really dark, really character led. And they kind of toy less Smack the Pony, but definitely League of Gentlemen and Julia Davis. I just think there's something really funny about tragic comedy, the fine line between something just being really sad and then something being really funny. And I love impersonating people. And I do a lot of that in my show. So I have these act outs where I play certain people in my life. And I send myself up as well. And I take it to the extreme. And it's all based in truth, all based in reality. And The League of Gentlemen, even though they've created this Royston-Vazy world where the characters are like hideous and kind of scary, some of them, they're all actually based on in real, with real characters, real people. And they all have a heart. There's a certain heart to it as well, and darkness. And I think that's, I love that. I don't just like slapstick stuff. I like comedy that's based in truth. Otherwise it's just one dimensional, if that makes sense. - Yes, yes. That's a brilliant answer. That's a brilliant answer spoken as a true comedian, like that's- (laughs) - It took me ages to call myself a comedian, actually, 'cause I went to drama school and I trained as an actor. And so I thought I was gonna be on the, I thought I was gonna be on the RSC, you know, the Globe. And then I started doing comedy, and then you can get more work as a comedian, 'cause you can gig every night of the week if you want to. And now when someone asks me what I do, I say stand up before I say actor. - Well, let me ask you, what is your favorite part about working in the theater? - The people, probably, and the variety. I like being part of a community, I suppose, of just like like-minded people. And I do find that the theater does attract, interesting, creative, empathetic people with depth. I know that sounds pretentious, but that's, yeah, I love, I love nothing more than being part of like a cast of people or a company of actors. And like that being like something you all experienced together. And I love how like all actors as well, like we're all kind of equal, do you know what I mean? Not, I mean, some actors are paid differently, but especially when you're like a theater show or a friend show, you know, you could be like in a friend show with like a 70 year old actress that's been like around for years, but you're all like equals in that moment. And I don't know, there's something really nice about that. - I love that answer, that is such a true answer. Well, that leads to my favorite question to ask guests. And then of course is what is your favorite theater memory? - Oh, it's, that's easy. So my favorite theater memory will be my first job out of drama school, my first proper professional job. And I got a rep, rep, repertory theater job. So, which don't really exist anymore. You know, where you hire a company of actors and we do like three plays over a season. There used to be loads of jobs like that over here, but now there's only one theater left in the whole of the UK in pitlockry in Scotland, which is a nine month season where they do three or four plays and they only hire like 12 actors. So the other one that used to exist was in the Lake District. Called a theater by the Lake in Keswick. And I got the, I got the season. So I was in the comedy of errors, Dracula and a really terrible fast called Rookery Nook, which I'm pretty sure I've never been done again. But I had tiny parts. I was living in the Lake District, which is the most beautiful part of the UK. And I met my boyfriend there, well he's my ex-boyfriend now, but I, so I fell in love. So I was living in the Lake District. I was doing plays every day with actors I loved. I was fell in love and I would go, I'm hiking up mountains every weekend. I mean, there's 10 years ago. So I would have been there 10 years ago. And that by far is like, I don't, I felt so lucky being in that job. There's no job like it. And there never will be again, I don't think. And then obviously Edinburgh, Edinburgh is great, but it doesn't, it's not the same. - That is such an amazing memory. Thank you so much for sharing that. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, if our listeners want more information about farm fatale, or about you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - On Instagram, I would say that's my main, my main. Instagram is Katie Norris 26, follow me. - Wonderful. Well Katie, thank you so, so much for taking the time to speak with me, for sharing your fabulous show. I'm so excited to see what it does next. I'm so excited it's gonna be in Edinburgh. This is amazing, audiences are gonna love it. So thank you so much for your time today. - Thank you so much. - My guest today has been the amazing creator of former Katie Norris, whose new show Farm Fatale is playing July 31st through August 25th at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Pleasant's Courtyard below. Tickets and more information are available at edfringe.com. And we also have some contact information for our guests, which will be posted in our episode description as well as on our social media posts. But right now, get your tickets, support this amazing artist, and see this fabulous, fabulous show. Again, the show is Farm Fatale, playing July 31st through August 25th. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies, and keep talking about the theater. - In a stage, whisper. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - If you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review, like and subscribe. - You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at stagewhisperpod. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things stagewhisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets, and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is Maniac by Jazzar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com/stagewhisperpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. We could not do this show without you. (upbeat music) ♪ Don't care anywhere near your town ♪ ♪ Make me down ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]