Playwright: Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. At: 500 Clown, The Viaduct, 3111 N. Western Ave. Tickets: 1-781-223-4174; www.500clownfrankenstein.brownpapertickets.com; $25. Runs through: Nov. 18
Not every work of physical theater is a clown show, but every clown show is physical theater, a term that helps define non-verbal performance as something suitable for adults and well beyond the circus and vaudeville. You won’t see a finer or funnier example of physical theater than 500 Clown Frankenstein, a most-welcome revival and reinvention of a show created a decade ago by 500 Clown.
The fact that most of the show is very funny is not because it’s a clown show. Clowns can be earnest (they usually are), sad (they frequently are) and sometimes very dark in tone. Indeed, a vast portion of clown humor is a result of the commitment with which they approach tasks and challenges, coupled with their incompetence to accomplish those tasks. What better example than three clowns who set out to present Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a tale of a brilliant scientist who lacks the human accomplishments needed to successfully complete his great experiment? The meeting of clown and Creature—almost always the odd-beings-out—is a magical metaphysical match. Just as the original Frankenstein novel ends in gothic horror and darkness, so 500 Clown embraces a dark tone in the final 10 minutes of its 70-minute show to parallel the fundamental “nature vs. nurture” question at the heart of Frankenstein.
Make no mistake: this is not a heavy or pretentious show; it is a delight from start to finish with three brilliant clown-actors each with his/her own highly individual personality and style and marvelously ingratiating flourishes. Who can resist the impish energy of Leah Urzendowski-Courser, or the mega-watt smile of Jay Torrence, or the ever-so-gently supercilious air of Dean Evans? I can’t. They throw themselves about with seemingly-careless and dangerous physical abandon and always bounce back for more, like cartoon characters. Their exquisite mastery of the so-called “plastique” of body and facial expression belies skill born, collectively, from decades of study and practice. FYI: There are five performers for the show’s three roles so you may see a different—but equally skillful—mix of clowns (and gender roles) at any given performance.
The three work on an almost-bare stage with a few hand props and one large apparatus, a kinda-sorta table and desk and laboratory gurney and guillotine rolled into one. If you’ve ever wedged an extra board into a warped old dining-room table, you’ll empathize with the 500 Clown antics. I’m not certain whether Dan Reilly (set designer) or Jim Moore (technical director) is responsible for this fiendish yet versatile device. I do know that the witty costumes, which combine crazy with craft, are the work of Jay Sangster. I also know 500 Clown Frankenstein is a rare treat.