Page 114 - Katherine Ryan press pack
P. 114
KR: I just felt like that story needed to be told. I needed to get that out
there. It was therapeutic for me to say once and for all, "Don't be sad for
me. I'm a 'glamazon.' I have an amazing child and I just bought a house in
Central London. Who are you to feel sad for me?" Because if I was a single
dad, I would be the hottest ticket. I would be The Bachelor.
AH: Do you find comedy, be it yours or generally, to be
therapeutic?
KR: My style evolves with how I'm feeling at the time. Before I wrote Glitter
Room, I'd just had this epiphany after a breakup and had bought my first
property. A lot of things were changing in my life, so that's what the show
was about. I am relentlessly positive, so at the time I wrote Glitter Room, I
did so because it was therapeutic. There were things I had been quite stoic
about and not said anything about. Really personal stuff about how I feel
being a single mother, and that was therapeutic. But that's probably the
first show I've ever done that came from that kind of place.
My shows generally attract mixed audiences, but I do get a lot of single
mothers, or at least a lot of women who were embarrassed to say that they
are single moms. When I ask, "Do we have any single moms in?" They're
like, "Oh, yeah, sorry." They're almost apologizing with their eyes. So, I
thought, "You know what? These single moms need a voice right now." I did
that for me, but I also did it for them. My next show might not be about
that, but certainly this show ended up being very therapeutic and cathartic.
AH: You daughter plays a major role in Glitter Room, and you've
spoken at length about her in your previous work. At the same
time, you guard her privacy fiercely on social media. What I'm
wondering is, does she know about your comedy that's about
her? Is she aware of that yet?