Fresh from a five star award-nominated (Offie nominations for Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance) run at Soho Theatre, All The Things I Lied About is heading out on tour, we caught up with writer Katie Bonna to find out more.
Tour details can be found here.
You’re taking All The Things I Lied About out on tour, what can you tell us about it?
The show is part TED talk, part confession and mostly lies. At least, it mostly talks about lies. I wanted to write a show which explored my relationship with my estranged father and ended up trying to realise my dream of being an internet phenomenon/public speaker. The show is a tangle of those two things, with some jokes and water pistols thrown in along the way.
It got 5 star reviews at The Soho Theatre, have you made any changes for the tour?
I have made a couple of small rewrites (it’s impossible to perform any show for two months and not discover small tweaks that would benefit it…), but nothing fundamental. It’s the same disco of dishonesty it’s always been.
You’ve said that it’s the most personal thing you’ve written, how does it feel sharing it with audiences?
Mostly good, sometimes scary, occasionally like utter madness. Generally, as soon as I get out there and meet the audience I know that it is going to be fine. I also listen to Beyoncé nonstop before I walk out there, which helps.
What are you most looking forward to about taking it around the country?
So many things! Obviously new audiences, new theatres and new places. I love exploring bits of the UK I haven’t been to before. I’ll be seeking out good coffee, good food and good yoga classes – if any audience members have tips while I’m at their local theatre, please share them!
Do you think All The Things I Lied About will come back to London?
At this stage, it’s hard to say. the show is very much of its time. A large proportion of it focuses on the post-truth society and how President Trump relates to the general public – it’s topical. If I brought it back again in the future, I’d need to take that into consideration, but I’d never say never!
If you could get away with telling any lie, what would it be?
Oh, I think I get away with enough of those as it is….to be honest.
