Salvador Kent
Katie Burson and Georgie Llewellyn are spoofing Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ in this one, the multi-million dollar duct taped banana that caused such outrage at the state of contemporary art. Their result is a handsome piece with a nice shape and great production value – but unfortunately in my opinion, it just doesn’t quite work as a clown show.
The potential is all there. Burson and Llewellyn are charming bananas and garner the noisy audience’s sympathy straight away. Bronwyn Ensor plays a snooty but troubled gallery curator auctioning off the art, and her performance is the one with the most comic potential. The gallery is beautifully designed Rob Byrne and lampoons fruit bowls, phallic cigarettes, pretentious audio guides and Campbells soup tins beautifully. The actual structure of the play is also good and unexpected with the story being wonderfully silly and taking us along.
The problem is – in its current form, the show is missing too many good jokes. One moment in which Ensor puts on her gloves to examine the art could easily be good clowning – at present, she puts on the gloves slowly, one by one. No laughs, maybe a titter. Lets say she put on one glove slowly… and then the other on the same hand. Already, a joke.
The cast of three had a lively audience which were keen to get involved. We are involved, but barely. The best part of the show is probably when we are implicated — either as a piece of art, or as buyers at an auction. Why not make this durational? Why not make us ridiculous? It feels like Burson and Llewellyn never quite become as oddball as this timeslot at Fringe could get you. The show in its current form touches edgy themes — sex, death, decay – but they are swooped away for toilet humour. I think if it leant into its timeslot, and into these darker themes a little more I’d be much more sympathetic to it.
It’s not a bad show. The cast are charming, the hour entertaining and the production design is wonderful, from Rob Byrne’s set to Dan Collings’s costumes to Tse-Yu Lin’s absolutely gorgeous object design. But in my opinion there’s better wacko clown out there at this time of night. Still, don’t let me stop you from seeing it — if any of this sounds like its your ballpark you might get more of a kick out of it than I did.
Recommended Drink: A Banana Milkshake.
You can catch How to Art at Underbelly Cowgate (Iron Belly) at 21.40 (60mins) until 30 August. Tickets available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Polly Glynn
Shay Mace
Nikolai Phalen
Oli Fuller
