Counter Culture

WORLD PREMIERE

NEXT

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, Baillie Room, 7th – 30th August 2010, at

12.00 (midday) Tickets

Reviewed by Jacqueline Sharp

★★★★★

NEXT? This production should have been The Kiki Kendrick Show! Kiki is the NEXT big thing in comedy!

This would be an apt and well-deserved accreditation for a strong woman with lots of character; a loveable actress with guts, determination and nerves of steel for surviving so many dodgy and countless auditions!

I couldn’t help wondering why this production was named as theatre in the Fringe brochure; this hilarious one-woman show is definitely the best comedy show in town! I laughed, laughed and laughed so much my sides ached! The audience laughed to her every line and were eager to see more and hear more from her!

This talented actress and writer has taken her gift of insight to recount the highs and lows and many pitfalls that come with being an actress. One actress creates a cast of 20 characters’ real-life auditions.

I had a vision! Kiki on Broadway in The Kiki Kendrick Show! Not impossible She has what it takes to be a huge star in America and United Kingdom, with her own television show. How about, The Kiki Kendrick Show – The Next Big Thing?

I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of all those directors applying for an audition for The Kiki Kendrick Show. Kiki would have the last laugh passing them over by saying NEXT! There would be a long list of directors making guest slots on her show. That would be comical!

With its well-written script, perfect timing and presentation, this hidden gem is thoroughly recommended. It deserves an award for excellence!

www.liberatedtheatre.com

www.assemblyfestival.com

★★★★★ five stars

JACQUELINE SHARP IN CONVERSATION WITH KIKI KENDRICK, PROFESSIONAL ACTRESS – NEXT! DEATH BY AUDITION @ EDINBURGH FRINGE 2010 – WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION BY LIBERATED THEATRE

Q Hi Kiki! Congratulations, I loved your show, I laughed and laughed endlessly, you are extremely comical. The audience also laughed just as much as me, well done!

A Laughs! Laughter is so important in an audience, when there is one lead laugher the others follow.

Q Your show should be jam packed full, you have the best comedy at Fringe this year, and what do you think about that?

A  It is harder to get an audience during the day; however, there is still time for everyone to know Kiki Kendrick is here!

Q Why was the production headed up in the Fringe brochure as theatre? Shouldn’t it have been comedy?

A Next is a play, storytelling! Perhaps I hadn’t realised how comical the show would come across. I had thought that serious fringegoers would go for serious comedy.

Q Who are team Next then?

A I am the performer, in this one-woman show. I also wrote the script. James Barry, (Director), Anjali Kale, (Production Design), Set Designer, (Kate Klinger), Asst Manager, (Nicola Roodt), Production Asst, (Olivia Ward), Photographer, (Julian Hanford), Fiona Tanner, (hair/make up).

Q Kiki, you wrote the script, which was well written, where did you get your ideas for Next?

A I had a string of some real bad auditions for two years, which threw me a bit. So in 2007 I came up with the idea of writing Next; a one woman show about an actress, the experiences of bad auditions. I suppose I wanted to turn negatives into a positive!

The script for Next has changed and evolved many times. Even now I get ideas all the time and incorporate them into my show, fresh ideas all time.

Q Was this therapy for you then?

A Laughs! Everyone asks me that. It was more a case of a wakeup call, a release, making my own path, finding my own way!

Q In one line Kiki, how does it feel for an actress going to auditions?

A Laughs! I have heard the auditions are much kinder in the United States; they don’t mess around over there, if they don’t want you they just say next straight up, without wasting actress time, without even doing an audition. I have never been for an audition in the United States; this is just what I have heard.

Here in the United Kingdom, it is much harder; I found the better the job the less you have to do at an audition. The crap jobs, they make you jump through hoops, work much harder and even get called back for recalls.

Q Are you going on tour with Next then?

A I am open to offers!

Q What about your own television show?

A I am open to offers!

Q Any books in the pipeline?

A Laughs! Bring it on! It is all about me, me, and me, Kiki Kendrick!

Q You are a professional actress, so what productions have you been involved with then?

A My television CV;

The Office, Cold Feet, Fat Friends, 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet Crisps, Night & Day, Waterloo Road, Casualty and Doctors.

My film CV;

9 Lives of Tomas Katz, Do I love You, and Phobias.

My Theatre CV;

Fly Me To The Moon, Reunion, I Want That Hair, My Beautiful Laundrette, Waiting For Hillsborough, Crime and Punishment, Lip Service, Mutton, 5065 Lift’s Insane Jane, Too & Close For Comfort, Babooshka, The Woman who Cooked her Husband