Suckers.

Suckers.
LOLIpop Productions. Harvest Rain Theatre, Mina Parade Warehouse (Qld). 7-10 March, 2012.

I expected a quirky, off-the-wall physical comedy. I realised when the show opened this was a ‘clowning sequence’ – mime with occasional words, mugging, familiar situations, audience involvement, coping with work’s little challenges …

The simple plot, devised by the actors themselves with director Andrew Cory, worked very well, but the one-hour-and-a-bit was about as far as it could go.

I left feeling I had witnessed public exposure of two highly talented clowns-in- the-making: Cameron Hurry and Pippa Moore. Technology, as a modern ‘smart’ vacuum cleaner, concealed their mentor, professional, locally-trained clown, Clint Bolster. He never appeared in the flesh but imbued the modern ‘vacuum monster’ with its own personality.

Cameron Heit’s sound design contributed considerably to their success.

This tentative start is great encouragement for the principals to explore their clowning boundaries. They have mastered the skills. My advice is: now establish your own clown’s character. Clowns allow us, in the audience, to identify our own faults, shortcomings or personality quirks: sadness, loneliness, rejection, failure, fear of change … Dig deep and explore until you find a character you can develop, and that your audience might identify with.

I applaud this Affiliate Project of Harvest Rain that allows talents such as these to experiment in-house and find an audience.

Jay McKee

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.