Salvador Kent
Bouffon from the bins, Gutter is an essential clown variety night. Boasting three different fringe acts per evening these beggars taunt and thrill as the grimiest comperes you’ll probably ever see. But at its core, Gutter is textbook Bouffon – grotesque, socially incendiary, deformed. On the night I caught them, they were probably the ‘straight man’ to the wackier corners of the Fringe clown scene, but their work was sophisticated, sharp and at times seriously moving.
Stretching out a massive bin to that one tune from Barry Lyndon, the beautifully grim Riss Obolensky, Claire Parry and Tom Greaves relish in entrances. They’re almost always begging – a deformity of any social contract between audience and performer — a begging for attention. They introduce acts in a meandering way and often take their sweet time in wandering offstage.
These are three performers that clearly love the liveness of clown. The best moments are those completely unpredicted. Too often this Fringe have I seen clowns not really knowing how to play with a developing bit, not here. I think Gutter could take a single incident and thread an hour with it – the highest compliment for any clown.
Gutter’s material is also legitimately very funny. “I’m a man who goes to therapy” is a perfect bouffon bit – a lampooning of authority in a way which is nothing but cruel. The Bouffon has the power to make the world topsy turvy, to make those in power question themselves, and Gutter are doing this night by night — not only in their material, but in their spotlighting of others’ material. The spaces afforded to the alternative comics, and the quality of these comics is vital.
It was great to see Mr Cardboard at this show, as well as developing work from Monkion and Queenie, and Emma Davies’s hilarious HR bit. Throughout their run, Gutter will be joined by Piotr Sikora (the man behind Furiozo), Sohrab Haghverdi (behind Foriegner) and many others, different every night. This is a brilliant space to discover the clown world, as well as a premier example of it.
In other words, it’s a bloody good time. If you want to watch some tapped alt comedy late at night, run to it.
Recommended Drink: Have a few drinks beforehand, grab a few afterwards and have a great night out.
You can catch Gutter at Underbelly Bristo Square (Fresian) from 18-30 August at 23.20 (60 mins). Tickets available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Esme Davis
Isobel Jacob
Hannah Hamilton
