Theatre / puppetry
Preview: Coulrophobia, Wardrobe Theatre
The Wardrobe Theatre welcomes back the brilliant Coulrophobia in March-April 2020, after a triumphant run at the prestigious London International Mime Festival.
Dik and Adam are clowns! They couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, let alone a surreal cardboard world. Why are they there and what are they supposed to be doing? They know something sinister is afoot (wearing really big shoes…) and they need to get out before it’s too late. Join them on a ridiculous, anarchic, often hysterical and sometimes terrifying quest for freedom.
The show’s performers are Dik Downey – a clown, fire-eater, actor, escapologist, street performer and puppeteer who worked with legendary Bristol companies Desperate Men and Green Ginger before forming Pickled Image in 2000 with Vicky Andrews – and Adam Blake, the co-founder of Open Attic Theatre. It’s also the opening salvo from Dik and Adam’s exciting new company, Opposable Thumb Theatre.
is needed now More than ever
Dik Downey and Adam Blake play two clowns who couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, let alone a surreal cardboard world
We spoke to Dik about the show, its unusual genesis (involving a moral panic that swept Britain, and some very remote Norwegian islands), and what we can expect from Opposable Thumb.
Tell us about how Coulrophobia came into being.
We made Coulrophobia right at the start of the ‘Killer Clown’ phenomenon, where people took to dressing as clowns in order to terrify passers-by, which led to a media frenzy about the death of clowning as a professional way of life.
We heard people saying how much they hated clowns but realised that they generally had never seen one in real life, just horrific versions in books and films such as Pennywise in Stephen King’s It. We decided to make a show that challenged that perception of clowns and show the real personalities behind the red noses and makeup.
………………………………
Bristol24/7 relies on your support to fund our independent journalism and social impact projects. Become a member and enjoy exclusive perks from just £5 per month.
………………………………
The show was created in some very distinctive surroundings. Tell us more.
We created Coulrophobia at the Nordland Visual Theater, on the Lofoten Islands, in the Arctic Circle.
It’s a pretty remote environment to create theatre. Once you’ve seen the mountains, fjords and whalebone-strewn beaches or you’ve visited the supermarket where you can buy fish pudding or sweets full of sea water, there’s not a lot else to do but work.
In 2014 we took costumes, make up, a few puppets and a pile of cardboard to see what would happen. I started out as a clown on the streets of Barcelona in the mid-80s, and I wanted to revisit that hedonism of just seeing what would evolve from play.
“People told us how much they hated clowns – but had never seen one in real life, just horrific versions in books and films”
Adam, who had quit studying as a biochemist and had thrown himself into clowning, wanted to take his performing to a new level. John Nicholson, our director, was charged with making us behave a bit and moulding the whole thing into a cohesive show.
In Lofoten in 2014 we had the skeleton of the show. Since then, Coulrophobia has been performed in 12 countries and has been constantly tweaked and edited to become the slick, well-oiled machine you are about to watch. This show is the result of five years’ performing and many more years of theatrical experience and highly intensive training in the art of clowning honed into one extraordinary display of skill, discipline, wit and emotional depth. If you think it’s just two blokes dicking about, the joke’s on you.
How did it feel to go down such a storm at the London International Mime Festival?
Performing at London Mime Festival has been a Holy Grail for me. It has been a bastion of interesting and creative shows for as long as I can remember.
I knew Coulrophobia was the right fit for the festival – unfortunately, the bookers disagreed. They felt there was too much chat for a mime show! I begged to differ: although there is a fair amount of dialogue, there is also some excellent mime on offer. This debate went on, back and forth for about four years until I finally beat them into submission (with my mime truncheon).
We did four successful shows in Jackson’s Lane Theatre, to great audiences. The highlight was the Saturday evening show, which was translated by a BSL interpreter – adding a whole new layer to the show. We’ve never had it signed before: it also gave us someone to play with on stage and she was well up for getting involved with the action.
So, Opposable Thumb Theatre: what are you setting out to do with this company?
Opposable Thumb Theatre came about because Adam and I had been working together for five years on Pickled Image shows and felt that we really wanted to create something that didn’t necessarily fit into the PI style of performance.
Although Coulrophobia was created through Pickled Image, it came directly from our desire to make a mental clown show, and it reflects our personalities on stage. We’re using it as a vehicle to start Opposable Thumb Theatre and to get people familiar with the name before we produce our new show next year.
In April/May 2021 we’re off back to the Lofoten Islands to spend seven weeks in the middle of nowhere with a great team of makers, designers, musicians and Emma Williams as director to (hopefully) create something extraordinary. I can’t say too much yet as it’s all still stuck in our brains and not solidified enough to divulge, but we know it’ll be thrilling.
And, meanwhile, Pickled Image are as busy as ever?
Definitely. Vicky Andrews is touring the amazing Yana & the Yeti and Woodland Tales with Granddad, and new work is in the pipeline for the company very soon.
Coulrophobia returns to the Wardrobe Theatre from March 30-April 4. For more info and to book tickets, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/coulrophobia
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
