Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Daniel Kitson’s existential, purposefully elusive KEEP offers no prescriptive answers

• By drediman
• December 19, 2019
• No Comments

Daniel Kitson in “Keep” at St. Ann’s Warehouse.

This winter, British comedian/monologist Daniel Kitson has returned to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn with Keep (I had previously seen his ANALOGUE.UE and Mouse, both also at St. Ann’s). Mr. Kitson’s brand of performance encompasses both stand-up comedy and theatrical monologue, a hybrid approach that has given him a fan base across the worlds of comedy and theater. But what’s really built him a cult following is his penchant in his works – via his restlessly active intellect and twisty personal narratives – for both clarifying and distorting society’s notion of the human experience, and his latest solo show is no exception.

The initial setup of Keep is simple and straightforward – Mr. Kitson tells us that he will be attempting to paint a picture of himself through the painstaking reading of the catalogued items that he’s accumulated in his home. He pseudo-psyches us into thinking that it will be a boring, drawn-out evening. But the purposefully elusive show is anything but straightforward. Soon we learn that our frequently and easily distracted guide has a habit of questioning how we’ve been programmed to live life (Mr. Kitson is not exempt from the inquisition), especially our collective mechanisms for creating narratives for ourselves and justifying our past actions. With Keep, Mr. Kitson has constructed a sprawling labyrinth of questions that leads to nowhere in particular – and that’s by design.

As a performer, Mr. Kitson is an acquired taste and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. He remains a deadpan, sweet-and-sour enigma who’s equally critical of the audience as he is of himself, which is both off-putting and secretively amusing. Although his idiosyncratic onstage persona comes across as frustratingly aloof and befuddled, Mr. Kitson is actually the consummate perfectionist. In hindsight, every bit of Keep has been meticulously constructed and performed. Ultimately, the show holds an existential mirror to the audience that offers no prescriptive answers. Indeed, I can’t think of a better way of bringing a sobering chill to the holiday season than by attending one of his performances. That’s a big compliment.

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KEEP
Off-Broadway
St. Ann’s Warehouse
2 hours, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
December 19