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The Edmonton Sun
Friday, August 25, 2000
by Kevin Williamson
Send in the clown
* * * * out of 5
Shannan Calcutt delivers in spades
BURNT TONGUE - Stage 10
The
secret to Shannan Calcutt's success as a clown is as obvious as
the nose on her face.
It's not her slapstick or hi-jinks - for a clown show, Burnt Tongue
actually offers few pratfalls - it's that she so cunningly makes
her audience recognize and laugh at their own shortcomings.
It's no wonder Calcutt was awarded best female performer at the
Victoria Fringe Festival last year. Her clown, named Izzy, is
a seamless mix of pathos, vulnerability and sharp understated
wit. You don't go to a clown show expecting heart-wrenching drama
or caustic social commentary - just something both parent and
child alike can enjoy, and Calcutt delivers in spades.
When we meet her, Izzy has just arrived at a park bench to meet
a guy she met on the Internet. Carrying a picnic basket and wearing
a wedding dress that doesn't look quite ready for the wedding,
she denies she's especially anxious about meeting her online paramour.
"I'm
not a planner! Men don't like planners!" she tells the crowd.
"Like, I'm totally prepared to be spontaneous!"
In uniform white face, red nose and rainbow hair, her Izzy sounds
like Roger Rabbit if Roger Rabbit were a Valley Girl. And no,
it's not nearly as insipid as it sounds. Calcutt could slay the
grinch in anyone.
Without giving too much of the plot away, suffice it to say, it's
a one-woman show - and the audience shares these emotionally fragile
45 minutes with her. She fusses and frets - she doesn't have a
cell phone so "what if he's trying to call me and he can't because
I don't have a cellphone and we don't meet! It's all my fault!"
Calcutt is a Jedi master of improvisation and she can work a crowd
with spellbinding ease, effortlessly including the audience in
the performance - like she said, she's always prepared to be spontaneous.
And while bringing an unsuspecting audience member onto the stage
to share the park bench is hardly unexpected, the results are
undeniably entertaining.
The production, directed by Sue Morrison, has sold out across
the country and Edmonton was no exception - with a standing-room
only crowd who, if the ovation at the end indicated anything,
thoroughly enjoyed it.
As my grandpappy used to say, it's a grand hoot.
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