An absurd story deserves an equally surreal retelling and Kenneth, What’s The Frequency? has daftness in spades.
Based on the barely believable life of CBS anchor Dan Rather, Kenneth… is a deliciously daft tale of paranoid conspiracy, hurricanes and burgoo that occasionally defies logic, regularly provokes laughter and always entertains.
Focusing on the now infamous beating of Rather (where his assailants repeatedly ask him ”Kenneth, what’s the frequency?”), this play draws a inspired, if a trifle surreal, link between Rather’s continual misfortune and the absurdist writer David Barthelme. Whilst the plot seems a trifle confusing and convoluted to begin with, this stellar cast manage to draw the audience in and capture their attention until the link between the unusual pair is solidly formed.
78th Street Theatre Lab are no strangers to Fringe success and while Kenneth doesn’t reach the heights of previous performances it certainly bedazzles and enthralls this year’s audience. And if nothing else they’ve turned a lot of people onto the work of Barthelme.
3/5
Richard Biggs
