KATHARINE FERNS IS IN STITCHES by Katharine Ferns (Ferns). At Factory Studio. July 6 at 11 pm, July 8 at 2:45 pm, July 10 at 8:30 pm, July 11 at 12:15 pm, July 13 at 3:45 pm, July 14 at 9:45 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN
UK-based Canadian stand-up comedian Katharine Ferns is very clear about her intention with this touring show: she plans to work through traumatic experiences by laughing at herself and inviting others to laugh as well.
This self-deprecation declaration comes early, after a series of warm-up jokes about growing up in small-town Alberta and various made-in-Canada things that felt attuned for overseas crowds. (Why banish Justin Bieber to Hamilton?) She then teases whats ahead: domestic abuse, pedophilia, cocaine and kittens.
What makes Fernss set effective is that she doesnt seem to water down or sugarcoat details. Shes an unsentimental and raunchy storyteller, easily able to draw an audience into a moment, whether describing physical assaults by her ex-boyfriend Ninja Mike, the discovery of a lump in her “Bermuda Triangle, and, in the show’s most visceral bit, a jaw-dropping gynecological procedure (medical incompetence is a recurring theme).
In going back through her memories, Ferns picks apart the cultural climate to show how society fosters shame to deflect responsibility for abuse, individual and systemic. And in this case, the effects are lasting and physical. A lot of the humour and horror is in intimate details and observations, including graphic non sequiturs about her sex life. Though she seems at times self-consciously concerned with hitting certain beats, moments when she allows an uncomfortable silence to sink in are powerful.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
