KAYLA LORETTE

We were introduced to Kayla Lorette as "General Lorette", acting in the original incarnation of Henri Fabergé's Feint of Hart, the monthly soap opera-theatre-music-comedy-video event staged 2 years ago. The key players of this sprawling narrative have regrouped and created a condensed musical, on now as a satellite to the Fringe Festival.  It's nice to see the General again, but in the interim, we've become huge fans of Kayla, the woman, actor and comedian.

Meeting her for the first time out of character (while fitting her for a naked-man-suit), I was shocked at her youth, beauty and femininity.  How could this slight woman be the brash, grotesque, churlish and swaggering General that I'd been watching onstage?  The answer is she's wickedly talented and it's not just me who's noticed.  After a tenure on the YTV show That's So Weird, Kayla has been extremely active in film, television, and live performance.  She just returned from touring Europe with her improv partner Becky Johnson as The Sufferettes, and recently wrapped production on the web series Everyone's Famous.  

Character work is Kayla's ardour and she speaks fervently about the limited scope of this genre made available to female actors and comedians. Determined to create or produce opportunities for this kind of expression, her time spent as the "manic-pixie-dream-girl" will hopefully be tempered with characters cut more from the cloth of reality.  It's incredible to experience Kayla transform, in a moment, from her polite and charming self to some kind of street-rat-hussler. Yet, she's not showboating the room, rather you get the feeling she observes and absorbs the gestures, mannerisms and personalities of everyone around her.  It takes a great intelligence and remarkable confidence to react appropriately at just the right moment.  We fell in love with her immediately and very much anticipate the future characters she'll bring to life.

See the General in Henri Fabergé's Feint of Hart until July 14th at Videofag.  Tickets are limited!