A brilliant, funny, and heartwarming breakup comedy.
Written and performed by Sarah Cameron-West, and directed by Evie Ayres-Townsend, Karen is a short but wild ride through the life of a freshly dumped 30 year old woman.
Karen’s humour is heavily grounded in the relatability of modern millennial life. A mix of snappy comebacks, sardonic quips, and some occasional physical cringe make Karen a consistently hilarious show, performed superbly by Cameron-West.
Despite being a one-person show, Karen is not performed as a monologue. Instead, we as the audience are privy to the conversations our protagonist has with the people in her life around her during this tumultuous time. Those people are just not present on stage. Cameron-West performs opposite nobody, allowing the conversations to be half inferred, as though the audience were eavesdropping on a phone call. This provides an excellent platform for the humour of the show, as Cameron-West showcases her excellent comedic timing through a torrent of reactive gags opposite, effectively, a blank canvas.
Our lead, the only ‘seen’ character in the performance, is a bit of a modern Bridget Jones. Passive in love and in life, led by her desire to conform into a conventional life that society expects of her, conflict and risk averse, with a normal amount of insecurity beneath the surface. It’s this relatability that makes Karen such an easy, comfortable watch. You bond with the immensely likeable protagonist immediately as she suddenly becomes an underdog in her own life.
Despite there being no other cast members, the personalities of other characters are projected effectively through the words, actions, and reactions of our protagonists. The script leans on stereotypes and simplistic characters (e.g. selfish boyfriend, overbearing mother) that the audience are comfortable understanding and visualising. That way, when our protagonist says something funny about them, we get it, because we know them too, and we laugh along.
The plot of Karen is not particularly profound, or novel, and this is why it’s so enjoyable. It’s trying to be funny, easy, and medicinal for the soul in its relatability. It doesn’t need to be anything more than what tries to be, particularly as it succeeds so convincingly.
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