Review: LONDON CLOWN FESTIVAL: OPENING CABARET, Soho Theatre

Time to turn that frown upside down: London Clown Festival returns in its typically rambunctious style.

Spread across Soho Theatre and Jackson’s Lane, two of  the capital’s biggest supporters of clowning and circus, this year’s carnival runs for over a month featuring acts from around the world. This year’s collection includes the much-anticipated return to the UK of the highly disturbing American Red Bastard, Lachlan Werner’s Wondertwunk (his follow-up to the brilliant Voices Of Evil) and musical comedy duo Otto and Astrid.

Hosted by The Establishment (Neil Frost and Dan Lees) and musical accompaniment from the LCF House Band (Lees, Sarah Woolfenden plus double act Tom and Julie), the traditional opening cabaret showcases several talents, some of whom will be appearing as part of the festival in their own shows. 

One of those is Lil Wenker who is all about the yee-ha (emphasis on ha). Sporting a painted-on moustache and clattering spoons in place of stirrups, their rootin’-tootin’ cowboy effortlessly generates laughs. Zipping along the Western trail into town, the audience are inveigled into providing a soundtrack - horses, cows, saloon doors and all - before a climactic gunfight. They return on 19 June with their critically-acclaimed Bangtail.

Another highlight are Paulina Lenoir and Patricia Langa whose flamenco-infused and frankly bonkers gothic love story comes across as both extremely funny and a thought-provoking meditation on life and death. With gloriously detailed black outfits and stomping dance moves, this attention-grabbing pair are a supremely dark joy. Lenoir and Langa bring their own show CONCHOLA to Soho Theatre on 20 June.

Those looking for red noses, small cars and shoes longer than a politician’s nose will have been disappointed; on the other hand, those seeking surreal antics would have been happier than a barrelful of Larries. Tom and Julie have the strangest act of the night which features a pair of curtains and a story about an overworked chef and their manager-slash-partner.

When not parping a way on a trumpet as part of the house band, Woolfenden was a gorgeous vision in white, wearing one dress shirt while another was tacked on top. There’s diagonal stripes of tape and, to finish the ensemble off, a square plastic light switch. A stark antidote to normalcy, she could easily become whoever Marina Abramović set out to be or a genuinely interesting runway model. Or maybe both?

Much energy is expended by some acts that need a stronger core concept. The lanky charmer that is Rob Duncan sweetly tries to pull us into his world centred on his office printer but needs to give us a stronger incentive to care about it. Likewise, Frost and Lees may be full of bounce but their humour isn’t and only provides more evidence that improv should be considered the last refuge of any professional comedian.

Australian Josh Glanc boasts his own Wikipedia page and a background working in corporate law but, given a receptive audience, can only summon up a repetitive song about fruit and what his past self might have referred to as property rights (“if you see a watermelon, put it back. Because it’s not yours.” Someone hand that man a Pulitzer pronto.). 

His crowd work feels forced and unrehearsed and reaches an awkward peak when, leaning over some poor reviewer who had obviously forgotten the first rule of cabaret), uses his barrister training and his very Tom Cruise-facing-Jack Nicholson hardest to intimidate the scribbler into revealing their real name. Maybe before he tells someone "I can do this all night" again, he should think about buying them dinner first?

Better luck next time, Josh. Yours, “Bruce”.

London Clown Festival continues until 4 July.

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