Bicycles and Fish
Written and performed by Katie Arnstein
Vault Festival, Nottingham Playhouse Studio, Redbridge Drama Centre
Performed in English
This is what the world needs now. It’ll give you hope that we can make the world a better place and the courage to stand up and help each other.
Fringe Guru
Non-stop entertainment… I cried, I laughed and at the end, I rose to my feet.
View from the Cheap Seats
Genuinely funny and insightful… Guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face, while also having something of substance to say.
Breaking the Fourth Wall
Funny, uplifting and hard hitting. Bicycles and Fish is an impressive debut imbued with warmth, charm and humour with a feminist gut punch.
London Pub Theatres
A seriously impactful hour. And a well constructed one too. Arnstein’s writing is so beautifully rich that you can’t help but get hooked…
There ought to be Clowns
In the style of a young Victoria Wood, she laces deceptively cutesy, funny songs with bite, and under all the smiles and the sweeties, there’s sharpness and spikiness to spare.
Exeunt
“I have always loved fairytales. My favourite film ever was Beauty and the Beast until we learnt about Stockholm Syndrome in P.S.H.E”.
Bicycles and Fish is Katie Arnstein’s hit debut one woman show about the day she stopped being a girl, aged 16, and became a woman. It’s also a fairytale. Well, sort of. It definitely has ogres, princes, a first kiss and hidden treasure. But in an ironic way. Just like Alanis Morissette.
Combining comedy, storytelling and original songs, Katie delves into her past to talk about why we all need to get on board with feminism quicker because misogyny’s got a big head start.
Cast & Creative Team
Katie Arnstein (Writer & Performer), Daniel Goldman (Director)
Just a lovely show to work on. Katie approached me to ask if I might help out… and since then, I’ve always thought of myself as more of an outside eye than a director, because she came to me with such a clear idea of the story, and how she wanted to perform it.
As with Team Viking, Bicycles and Fish was meant to be a solo show , but as Katie discovered as she made the show, it opened up more stories that she wanted to tell. And so it too became the first show in a trilogy of works called It’s a Girl, with the other shows being Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door. All three shows have been brilliantly successful in Edinburgh and on tour across the UK, a testament to Katie’s unique writing voice.
Katie’s phenomenally talented… and the loveliest person. If you want someone to write you a TV show or a play, you should definitely check her out at www.katiearnstein.com
Photos © Simon Jefferis / Lidia Crisafulli