Written by Adam Gregory - AD of Theatre Tapas
“Politics is full of clowns, but ours are better” say the makers of Politiclowns; the latest production from experimental scratch theatre company Theatre Tapas.
Using the art of clowning to expose the absurdity of modern politics, this scratch night promises a raucous, unashamedly fun evening, where the lines between performance and politics blur in unexpected, and often ridiculous, ways. As part of Camden People's Theatre's The State We're In festival, Politiclowns showcases new work from 3 of London's most exciting performers as they take on the world of politics, showing us just how much of a joke it can all be.
When I was asked to create this series of scratch nights, there were 2 main reasons I was excited. Firstly, because I firmly believe in providing opportunities for artists to showcase their new ideas to see what works (and paying them for that!) and secondly, because I’ve long had this idea about clown being a great medium to discuss politics. This fit in perfectly with Camden People’s Theatre’s festival The State We’re In andprovided a perfect opportunity to send up the state of politics as we know it, in a hilarious, raucous way, giving people an unashamedly good night out in the process.
Politics is fraught with larger-than-life characters. This is true here in the United Kingdom, it’s true in Lil Wenker’s (performer of Old Man and The Press Conference) USA, and it’s true the world over. We seem to have a sort of “politics of personality” at the moment. My dad used to say that politicians used to rely on their parties to win elections, whereas now it seems like parties rely on their politicians. The louder, more divisive, more flamboyant the individual, the more attention they get in mainstream media, but also clicks online.
It's no wonder, then, that politicians are seeming to become caricatures of themselves. (Can you see where the link with clown comes in yet?) They will say and do anything, it appears, to get a bit of attention, a bit of momentum, a bit of love. Clowns want the same from their audience. They are perfectly happy to try something unexpected to provoke a reaction – positive or negative. Perhaps they’ll fail spectacularly, but at least people are watching.
For a peek behind the proverbial curtain, the selection process was actually very, very easy. This is the first event that Theatre Tapas is running, and so I didn’t have a large pool or a lot of applications or anything like that to go from. Instead, I just reached out to artists I already knew, and imagined would have something to say on this topic.
Frankie Thompson is a performer I’ve long admired. I first met Frankie at a scratch night. We were getting ready to perform, and she came in in broken glasses and a suit too big for her, completely on her own, and she killed it. She was doing a show called Forbruker, a “one woman advert break” which served to satirise and criticise capitalism, consumerism and individualism in the world past and present. She has an impeccable wit and makes work that’s simultaneously hilarious and poignant. She seemed like a perfect fit for a clown show centred around politics.
Tim Chapman is an artist I’ve worked with for a long time. He’s a founding member of Shepard Tone, a company I’ve been involved with as a dramaturg since 2019 and has a fantastic sense of play in rehearsal rooms that is utterly charming. I’ve seen him perform many (many, many) times, and he looks sharpest and feels safest when toying with an audience, taking a joke to its absolute limits until the room erupts. If politics is currently a battle of charisma, we should all expect Tim Chapman to be elected sooner rather than later.
And Lil Wenker is an absolute workhorse. She’s got multiple different shows happening right now with different characters and is a real comedy chameleon. She performs both in the UK and the USA and will be going to Adelaide fringe early next year too with her show BANGTAIL – a cowboy show about modern masculinity. Her show at Politiclowns is about the humanity (or lack thereof) of some of the world’s highest offices and what that means for the people who work in them.
Now that this first event is programmed, Theatre Tapas as a company has a greater reach, and my programming will be able to cast a much wider net.
Scratch nights are transactional, at their core. The artists get to try out work, and the venue get to make some money from it. But too many scratch nights leave it at that, and the exchange is complete. I don’t like “exposure” as payment – I’m a working-class freelancer myself and it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. So that’s the last political part of this event I suppose: a message that artists should be paid.
Theatre Tapas: Politiclowns plays at the Camden People’s Theatre on Monday 28th October, 7.15pm as part of the The State We’re In Festival. For tickets, visit: https://cptheatre.co.uk/whatson/Politiclowns
Camden People’s Theatre’s The State We’re In Festival – three weeks of theatre and performance lifting the lid on Britain’s democracy, politics and public life at the dawn of a new government runs until the 10th November. For tickets, visit: https://cptheatre.co.uk/festivals/state-2024
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