Review: KÄTZCHEN, Riverside Studios

It's fiendishly difficult to pull off a one-person show, guiding the narrative arc of a story and playing a multitude of roles. But actor-writer Sophie Lenglinger is in total control throughout GAPTOOTH Collective's Kätzchen at Riverside Studios.

Kätzchen – the German word for kitten or little cat – is an unflinching black humour tale of an alien manifesting as a beautiful young woman called Daphne coming to earth to learn what it means to be human.

There are many funny and poignant misunderstandings as Daphne finds her way, including encounters with a macho policeman, sex worker named Love and her clients, man in a nightclub, salesgirl in a clothing shop, black cat and an older woman living rough in a park.

It's a kind of 60-minute Odyssey of sorts cleverly crafted by writer Joy Nesbitt, who examines how an outsider (alien/foreigner, woman, person of colour) tries to fit into our totally baffling world.

The Creator (who speaks German of course) teaches Daphne words, but language is a slippery thing and open to misinterpretation. "I have all the words, but I don't know what they do," Daphne says. Even though she soon realises there is more than one language on earth and that she knows them all, she's still none the wiser when it comes to conversing with humans.

Mother English (or Mother) has been training Daphne to look and act like a human. She tells Daphne to make sure she smiles – as that's what women do – but not too much. And that sharp teeth make people nervous, so only bare them when you have to.  

A running motif about man-made laws versus laws of nature is beautifully woven into the script. The policeman, who picks up Daphne for no apparent reason tries to lure her into his "ship" and chats her up ("You're looking well fit"). He represents the law, but when Daphne's released from custody alongside another woman, the woman refers to the bent cop as "a f-ing creep" – new words for Daphne to add to her growing vocabulary.

She eats "yellow spirals" (pot noodles), is told to be "classy" and in a witty sequence is introduced to the concept that to be a woman she's to exist within "a consciousness of the oppressed".

She also discovers when "smacking" can be playful and when it can turn dangerous. All of this is confusing enough for humans, so how can an innocent like Daphne work out how to "reverberate" (as she puts it) with humans?

One of the biggest strengths of this black coming-of-age play is the viewpoint through the eyes of an innocent. The audience isn't being slammed with didactic messages about race and feminism. Instead, we get the powerful points that are made, but with intelligence, humour and grace.

For instance, when Daphne tries on a long red dress in a clothing shop, she sees herself in the human body of the salesgirl, who also has "a brown body and hair that stands up". She feels warm like "the yellow spirals, like Mother".

Remarkably, Lenglinger plays all the parts in Kätzchen, ably shifting in rapid succession from one character to another. She expresses a raw vulnerability and easily connects with the audience. We totally accept she's an alien from the outset and believe too in all the other characters.

Technically GAPTOOTH (made up of Lenglinger, creative producer Nico Bowden and Nisbett) keep things simple, with black background drapes and a couple of cream drapes with pieces of silver foil and squiggles on them. There's a red plastic chair that Lenglinger makes good use of, and two cubes.

Sound effects of urban noises and music in a nightclub and bar (amusingly described by Daphne as a black box with GWI-NESS, or Guinness as we know it, written on the side) are excellent. Daphne's descriptions of "touching the air" around her while dancing, "the narrow place" (alley) and "red liquid" (blood) offer us new sounds and images for words.

Just like "something on the ground" (the little black cat) catches "a small gray thing in its mouth" and devours it, Daphne goes from being a kitten to a cat, finally discovering how and when to bare her teeth. In other words (and words are important here), she learns about suffering and how to survive.

Kätzchen runs until 8 August at Riverside Studios.

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