THEY’RE clowning around at Bats Theatre this week.
In two solo performances Wellingtonian Jenny McArthur and Finnish performer Sampo Kurppa give Wellington audiences a rare chance to see European modern clown theatre in Echolalia and Temptation opening at Bats Theatre tomorrow night (June 30).
McArthur says modern clown theatre is a reinvention of the old circus clown, combining physical and character comedy with circus skills and a cohesive theme or story.
“It’s very different to the circus clown with wigs and red noses,” McArthur says. “It’s the traditional clown in terms of comedy with things going wrong and setting yourself up for failure, but it takes the structure out of the cheesy circus situation and adds a story. It’s really a mixture of the traditional clown and theatre.”
McArthur began her career on the stage as a contemporary dancer and choreographer at the New Zealand School of Dance. It was in Australia that she first saw circus theatre and “fell in love” with it. She travelled to Europe, studying at the Cicomedia circus school in Bristol and for the past 12 years has been travelling to Europe doing street theatre and performing with others involved in the modern clown form.
Echolalia is McArthur’s first solo offering. Using the forms of modern clown, storytelling and dance her piece investigates the question – what does the world feel like for someone with autism?
Sampo Kurppa trained as a juggler at the Turku Circus School in Finland before studying at the Paris physical theatre school of Jacques Lecoq, regarded as the founder of the modern clown theatre genre. He has toured New Zealand before, touring with three other clowns late last year.
In this performance, Temptation, Kurppa uses the forms of string figures, juggling, finger dancing and frenzied mime sequences to depict his character’s efforts to give up smoking.
“We’re hoping the audience will have a laugh and be entertained by different theatre skills,” McArthur says. “But we’re also hoping to get across some important messages.”
Echolalia and Temptation, Bats Theatre, June 30 to July 9.