REVIEW: Evil Clowns Slaughter Shakespeare in Disturbing New Play
The audacious new production from Theatre Network will have you helpless with laughter – as long you don’t mind humour that is outrageous, dark and discomforting.
It’s called The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Buffonius – and it’s a clown show. There are no red noses or seltzer bottles. It’s bloody, bawdy and grotesquely perverse. If that sounds to Fringe fans like the “Son of Mump and Smoot,” it happens that Michael Kennard (Mump) coached these players in the sardonic, pitch-black style of clowning called “Bouffon.” There hasn’t been this much blood spilled on an Edmonton stage since our last visit to Ummo.
The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Buffonius plays at the Roxy on Gateway through Feb. 16.
The “Bouffon” method of clowning was developed by the French master Jacques Lecoq. It features distorted bodies (and minds) and includes elements of burlesque, commedia, farce, gallows humour, parody, slapstick and satire.
The play by Colleen Murphy – well known around these parts as having been writer-in-residence for both the Citadel and the U of A – is actually play within a play. A group of misfits is given a grant to stage a show, so they choose Shakespeare’s bloody and seldom-performed revenge opus Titus Andronicus. Mostly because, as they observe, “It is the play with the most murders.”
The leader of this basket of deplorables is Sob (played by a commanding Robert Benz), recently released from jail. His followers include the creepy Boots (Helen Belay), who often gives the impression that screaming madness is not far away. Fink (Hunter Cardinal) was abandoned as a child. He has mother issues and can’t keep his entrances straight. Leap (Marguerite Lawler) is a sad, damaged sex worker performing oral sex so she can buy a rescue dog. She shamelessly works the audience while delivering a lecture on female rights. She hates the play and keeps breaking into dialogue from Romeo and Juliet. Spark (Bobbi Goddard) is in “recovery” after having her children taken by Children’s Services. All of the actors play several roles.
Under the inventive direction of Bradley Moss, this motley band of antic fools tear into the Bard with great glee. Madness certainly seems to be an element here. Twisted in body and bent in mind, they feast on Shakespeare’s grisly tale. You can’t fault this troupe for holding back or from taking great delight in each indignity. The acting is overwrought – but that is the style.
We are not allowed to watch from afar. The audience is challenged to set aside notions of theatre and surrender to outrage and confrontation. We laugh because all this is barbarically funny, and also disturbing. Shakespeare inspired horror in his audiences with this play. Here the characters substitute absurdity for terror. Plastic dolls representing children are dismembered. Lavinia (Lawler) has her tongue cut out – and is then challenged to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – tongueless. Some 14 characters meet grisly deaths – all dutifully counted off by a series of small plastic dolls on a wire in much the same way a snooker game is governed.
All of this is carried out in the play’s distinct style and context, and can’t be summed up in a series of described anecdotes. You know something’s up when the climax begins and the characters drape front row audience members in bibs and sheets.
Despite the chaos on stage for much of the evening it is obvious that the anarchy is carefully calibrated by director Moss. The entrances and exits may appear messed up but they all happen just the right way, the jokes connect and the sound and music cues are bang on. The sound design and music come from the indispensable Darrin Hagen. He also wrote a series of small ditties to advance the action. Moss stages the show in the round – so beware of flying body parts. The wooden crazy-quilt but extremely serviceable set is from Tessa Stamp (assembled, the cast tells us, from old wood they found in a dumpster), with atmospheric lighting from Scott Peters.
This may not be for everyone. You may find yourself outside of your comfort zone, but The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Buffonius is strikingly original and delivered with enough verve and “you-can’t-do-that-on-stage” style to take your breath away – while leaving you with lots to talk about after the show.
Photos by Ian Jackson
