OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 11 September 2009

THERE IS an unmistakable poignancy about the white faced clown as the audience laughs at his pratfalls, oblivious of the agony behind the mask. In this one-man play Gordon Russell charts the life of one such clown. His life follows the history of the 20th century as he was born on the stroke of midnight at the end of the 19th century and is about to face death as the 20th century draws to a close.

Gordon Russell as Scaramouche Jones

The story follows Scaramouche from his birth as the son of a Barbadian whore to his life as a clown in the circuses of Europe. After the death of his mother, when he is six, he is sold into slavery and ultimately grows up as the assistant to a snake charmer who is responsible for the boy’s education.

The story follows many of the major events of the 20th century as Scaramouche is adopted by gypsies and ultimately finds himself in a German concentration camp shoveling lime on to the bodies of the victims of the holocaust. It is here, strangely, the Scaramouche is supposed to have discovered his gift for comedy as he finds himself able to amuse children about to face death.

The story concludes with Scaramouche working as a clown in London having vowed not to speak for the last fifty years of his life.

There were many aspects of this play that were beautifully performed and well conceived as pieces of theatre. Russell performed some delicate and moving mime, and was very convincing as the aging clown. The set, a dressing room in a circus tent, was colorful and imaginatively used.

Overall, however, the play was more of an elegant piece of storytelling than a drama. The sole character spends much of his time simply telling the audience his story and as such it lacks pace and tension. This performance was the conclusion of a short tour of the Highlands and Islands by the production companies of Esra Taf theatre and JHR Musics, having already visited six venues including the Isles of Skye and Mull.

In the end I was left wondering what the aims of the piece were. The show was billed as “hilarious” on the play’s website, and although there were amusing moments, these were relatively rare; much of the performance was tinged with darkness that admitted little humour. I found the graphic descriptions of holocaust atrocities evoked images that were so disturbing that the rest of the performance seemed trivial. To conjure up such images without anything to say about them other than to point out their obvious horror is pointless.

The white-faced clown seemed to allow all of his life experiences to wash over him and responded very little in even the direst circumstances. I was mystified as to why he decided to take a vow of silence for the last fifty years of his life having, as far as I could see, said very little for the first fifty.

One could expect a clown to at least have some views on the nature of comedy, but even on this he was silent. The play was originally written for Pete Postlethwaite, who is an actor of considerable stature. Perhaps he was able to convey a meaning to the clown’s words that this performance lacked.

What has remained with me are the physical images that Gordon Russell created as his sad eyes stared out from behind the clowns mask. Physically he was excellent in the part and he brought a graceful stylised elegance to the role as he moved about the stage reliving the life of the clown. Perhaps the play would have been better overall if the mask of the sad-faced clown had been allowed to slip a little more frequently and given us a glimpse of features beneath.

© John Burns, 2009

Links

• JHR Musics
• John Burns at Purple Comedy