“I feel at home in a theatre, but stand-up does work best in a dingy basement. That’s where there’s electricity because we’re all on top of each other and you feel so connected and in the moment,” says Aussie-based alternative stand-up Kate Dolan.
Returning to the Edinburgh Fringe with her third hour Trout, about how she’d rather be a fish than a woman, Dolan’s had an excellent 12 months. She’s played Sydney Opera House (“It doesn’t really feel right for stand-up but what an experience! You’re never gonna say no to that, are you?”), had an acclaimed, award-winning Edinburgh run with The Critic (yes, the award was from us), and has a web series on the go, produced by Aunty Donna’s new alt comedy platform Grouse House.
“Last year I was really finding my voice”, she says. However, she didn’t personally feel like she’d punched through, despite acclaim and validation from the comedy industry. “Comparison is the thief of joy but I’m just being totally honest. You see other shows start selling out, sometimes even before the festival’s started, and you think, ‘what more can I do?’”
“I’m at that point in my career where I really need a festival. People wouldn’t come out to my show individually cos no-one knows who I am,” she points out, and is delighted to be joining one of the Fringe’s most sought-after venues. “Monkey Barrel have a comedy culture built into their brand so I’m really excited to see what the audiences will be like, how I’ll be received there differently.” She’s particularly keen to be discovered by their regular audiences.
Dolan certainly is a discovery. Her screwball, frenetic stand-up also veers into character and dance at points. “I love being mad in the moment, do you know what I mean?” she chuckles to herself.
Her influences vary just as wildly. “I loved Lee Evans growing up and he’s nuts. He’s sweating his arse off running around the stage, it’s different but it’s high energy, manic”. Riot grrrl vibes are folded in too. “I like a lot of female punk and I’d love if I could get to a point where that’s the energy I’m bringing into my comedy. I’m an angry woman I guess. I have passion. I have fire. I wanna say something in my art…there’s a pulsation underneath the comedy, where it’s like ‘this is relentless.’”
New to Dolan’s comedy is a sense of darkness. “With Trout I actually wanted to talk about darkness with frankness”, she says, in an hour which explores the opposite of identity. “I’m talking about not wanting to be yourself. Sometimes it’s like you get picked apart so much in life that you start to lose your flesh and there’s nothing left for you.” But the deep nature of the show doesn’t mean it’s any less absurd. “It’s a really silly show and a lot of the jokes are quite silly, but in the same breath, if you actually think about what I’m saying, it’s quite dark.”
By teaming silliness with gallows humour, it undercuts the power those dark thoughts can have. “Once you start having a bit of a laugh and a joke, you realise that a lot more people are feeling the way you are than if you never broached the topic at all. Me and the girls are saying ‘I’m gonna chuck myself off a bridge’ and there are genuine mental health situations going on, but there’s also a lightness to saying ‘hang me in the town square.’” The contrast is what makes it work.
But above all, it’s connection which Dolan is vying to create through her insightful, experimental brand of stand-up. “I always hope that something I do or say in my shows makes someone feel less alone.” Perhaps then, she’ll finally feel like she’s broken through.
Kate Dolan: Trout, Monkey Barrel Comedy, 3-30 Aug, 8.35pm