Review: I Didn't Know I Was Polish (The Hope Theatre)

Review by Dan Ghigeanu

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We all have our safe spaces that we frequent in life and leave pieces of ourselves in, we link said places with happy or sad memories, join communities that make us feel like we belong there, even if it is only for a short period of time. What do you do when you feel like you don’t belong anywhere, but you find fragments of yourself all over the world? One of the main questions in I Didn’t Know I Was Polish, a powerful immigrant story with hilarious punch lines and heart-breaking truths. 

Written and performed by Kaitlyn Kelly with direction by Dominika Uçar, the Offie-nominated show makes a London return at The Hope Theatre after premiering at the Voila! Theatre Festival 2024 in London. The story follows Canadian-born with Ukrainian heritage Kaitlyn Kelly on her life journey, tackling identity, cultural values and the story of her life in every shape possible. Kaitlyn is close with her family, her sister Sonya, her grandmother ‘Baba’ and her grandfather Gidu. Gidu was always an enigma to her, but she always felt like they had a connection. 

Kaitlyn draws you in from the moment she walks on stage. Her confidence and fast pace sets the tone for the rest of the play, complemented by some beautiful red lighting, highlighting the urgency of the piece. Her diction is one of her strongest skills, and a handy one for a show like this that can be very word-heavy at times. She showcases a variety of skills from a spot of slow dancing, to singing, to some improvisation with the help of the audience. She proves herself to be a talented and wide-ranging performer.

The singing number is one of the standout moments of the play, singing the title song ‘Military Paradox’, lyrics written by her and Jovanna Backovic. The improvised scene got a lot of laughter from the audience as well. She impersonates a variety of characters in certain moments in the play, speaking French, Polish and rounding off the characters with some very funny physical acting. 

One of the main themes of the show is home and borders. Kaitlyn left her life behind in Canada when she was 25, but she never quite felt like she belonged anywhere. She has moved to Paris on a visa that is about to expire, and the social expectation on the financial side is letting her down in renewing it. The show itself makes a point about how our media culture can influence us in making decisions that we don’t fully understand sometimes. 

She lived in Paris for a while now, but it never quite felt like home. She can’t really understand why she chose to move there until she realises that Paris, ‘The City of Lights’, has always been portrayed to us as the ultimate utopia. She goes on an impressive rant, again, showing how good her diction and delivery are, listing films that present Paris as the best city on earth, with Moulin Rouge, An American in Paris or Ratatouille being a few of the many mentioned. Is it reality, or is it just the Hollywood machine?

After staying in Paris without a valid Visa, she gets drunk on New Year's Eve with her friends and her partner, Claudia, all claiming that 2020 will be their best year yet. A joke that gets quite the reaction from the audience. Her lifeline comes when she gets told that she has Polish heritage and that she can carry on living in France on a Polish passport. Kaitlyn’s reaction in this scene is nothing short of heartbreaking. Finding out you belong somewhere you don’t speak the language of, or even really know, is life-changing. Feelings of shock, fear, relief, happiness, all conveyed at the same time through just her facial expressions, it is really something worth seeing. 

The gut-wrenching climax of the play comes when we get to 2021, the moment Russia attacks Ukraine. The second Kaitlyn mentions the incident, the whole audience went so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. This part of the show highlights that the war is not over, people are still dying every day and seeking asylum in different countries. Kaitlyn ends the show by telling a legend about handcrafted Ukrainian eggs and hoping that one day her people will be free again. I Didn’t Know I Was Polish is an emotional, poignant and funny show with a powerful performance by Kaitlyn Kelly. Even if it is on a short visa stay, the show is more than welcome to hang around for a few more performances.

I Didn't Know I Was Polish played at The Hope Theatre from the 17th - 18th July.

Photos by Greta Zabulyte.