The name Furiozo murmurs through the festival as a ‘must-see' show and usually when this happens, it’s cause to be cautious. Billed as a ‘disturbing yet absurdly funny portrait of toxic masculinity,’ as well as a wordless, character comedy show, it’s hard not to have your interest piqued. If you manage to get into what is a consistently sold-out show, you’ll be glad you did.
An intense but ridiculous ride
A wall is punched repeatedly and then out charges a screaming Furiozo as Polish heavy metal music booms at full blast. Piotr Sikora, the Polish clown behind Furiozo, is terrifying. His head is completely shaved and he is dressed like a boxer-cum-MMA brawler, complete with velour robe, gaudy chain and blue mouthguard. ‘Furiozo’ is poorly scrawled in black marker across his torso. He is the embodiment of every internet ‘alpha male’. There is a collective tension in the air as we wonder if we have yet again bought into Fringe hype.
Furiozo runs around gurning and growling at anyone unfortunate to be close enough, before running back to the stage where he raises a finger to the air and the music stops… and he starts to shake our hands to (silently) thank us for coming. He raises his finger again, the music restarts and he’s off running and grunting anew, followed by a fight with a tiny stuffed animal. We exhale a sigh of relief as we see that we are in for an intense but ridiculous ride.
The story isn’t new - a coked-up gangbanger tries to change his ways and settle down for the sake of his wife and child but can’t seem to leave his old life behind - but the way in which Furiozo, again wordlessly, persuades members of the audience to participate to help move the story along speaks to Sikora’s charm still cracking through the ‘Furiozo’ veneer. He cheers when an audience member does a good impression of being shot by his finger gun, and he hugs each person who joins him on stage and makes sure we applaud loudly for them. Whenever consent is involved (like when he wants to have sex with his girlfriend, who is a mannequin in a plastic pink wig and floral shirt), he seeks permission from us first, asking for our approval with a thumbs up or down.
Consent and toxic masculinity don’t usually coincide so it’s a smart way to add some tenderness to the character and still keeps us rooting for Furiozo, even though we know how these stories usually end.
