25 September
Katie Arnstein is a collector of hopeful souls. Her M.O. is to be relentlessly cheerful in the face of life-sapping adversity and to convince us that hope lies around every corner. The grim realities of a cancer diagnosis hardly seem a fit subject for comedy, but Ms. Arnstein wrestles the ogre to the ground, looks it square in the eyes and tells it, ‘You’re up against people and we’re not going to let you walk over us!’ Her mum has the news we all dread after a blood test or biopsy and Katie sets about doing what she can to help and be positive, telling her mum each day that it’s a fine day for beating cancer as she drives her to the hospital.
It’s a good news story (she tells us at the start) and the piece is delivered with a kind of urgency to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Dressed in a T shirt and jeans she moves comfortably around the stage, addressing us like old friends and occasionally perching in the front row. She’s not the kind of stand-up who thinks it’s funny to shout about something they find annoying, she cajoles us with good humour. Her articulation is perfect and with the warm edge of her West Midlands roots giving her voice a friendly tone delivered through a near permanent smile.
The show hovers confidently between stand-up, storytelling and drama. With a writer’s eye for human idiosyncrasies the waiting area for cancer patients in the hospital is soon populated with folk who are all on the same journey, but on different routes to get to the hoped for destination. One such is George (Tim Hardy) who uses his time in the waiting area by training for the London Marathon. He runs up and down the corridor, co-opting Katie as his trainer. George is going to run in memory of and under the name of Reg, his life partner who has succumbed to cancer. The final section of the piece is George’s as he, unhurriedly, runs the marathon. The writing is tender and moving, delivered with sensitivity, humour and nuance by Mr Hardy who we learn is fresh in the role. He brings the show over the line, figuratively and literally as he completes his run.
The end is as moving as the rest is joyful and hopeful. Katie Arnstein shows us that there is welcome place for comedy with a heart.
Katie Arnstein’s The Long Run will be at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath 7th – 9th October 2024
★★★★☆ Graham Wyles, 26 September 2024
