On Sunday I headed to Kings Theatre in Islington London to see a preview of Queen of Fishtown. This is ahead of a month long run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This after rocking the WORLD PREMIERE at the 2022 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL. Written and performed by Katierose Donohue Enriquez, Queen of Fishtown is a character comedy that gives an intimate look into the life of a woman turning 40 in Fishtown, Philadelphia.
Kathleen Burke is from the Irish American generation that’s ancestors emigrated to America as far back as the Irish Famine and settled in Philadelphia. She likes her beer and marlboros and works at the local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles).
Kathleen lives with her latino husband Arthur, her disabled veteran brother, her son Peter who is in his early 20s and who is engaged but who Kathleen has high hopes will go to college. Her 9 year old daughter goes to a catholic school run by nuns. The Catholic guilt that was embedded in us Irish in eighties Ireland that we have long since abandoned and rebelled against appears to have a huge influence over Kathleen, someone who has probably never set foot in Ireland but it is engrained in an Irish identity along with other old Irish traditions that go back to the time when her ancestors emigrated.
Kathleen mocks the gentrification of Fishtown with all its new cross fits, hipsters and restaurants. She is all for yoga pants but has never once taken a yoga class.
In this one woman show, Katierose brings Kathleen to life with a fantastic narrative of a 40 year old woman, dealing with change to the neighbourhood she has grown up with and the dramatic changes in her own life. She also brings to life all the other characters in the plot in this truly poignant and hilarious piece of work, a somewhat Irish stubborn humour made better with the fantastic Philly accent.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022
