The show is performed by a brilliant pair of queer, tumbling, absurdist clowns. It's a thigh slapping good time. Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland are our pair of clowns and the full team includes their lighting designer. The pair paint clown make-up on their faces and get to work.
A thigh slapping good time
We are mostly in the world of the Rodeo, from the perspective of Dale the Rodeo clown, who's working hard to be a cowboy one day, but right now is near the bottom rung of the hierarchy at play. Startlingly, an equally leather clad, cowboy boot wearing a mirror of him ia following Dale. This figure turns out to be Dale’s shadow, and he is talking to him and he has lots of questions. Rather than waiting for Godot, these two are trying to work out who was the opportunistic arsonist that set fire to the rodeo, and thankfully we get slightly more answers than in a Beckett play. The piece is gloriously playful with gender and examining the extremely masculine world of the rodeo.
The chemistry between the performers is a delight to behold, best put to use when rapidly changing between characters and stuffing perspectives, giving the cast the chance to flex their acting range. The budding friendship which grows into flirting between the two is charming and heartwarming. The plot of the piece has been extremely well thought though with no moment left unchallenged. The meta meditations on storytelling as a structure and the economic and financial struggle of performers feel on very receptive ears for an Edinburgh Fringe audience.
The performance manages to strike the balance of being both shabby and scrappy and slick. With the excellent costume and visual look of the piece, alongside dystopian edits to perfect songs to soundtrack the show. The staging is in the round and the piece simply sings in that staging, it gives the performers extra dimensions to tumble and fall and move. To avoid spoilers I will simply say I didn’t want the show to end and I wanted more.
