Hope Lauren and Samuel Garnett (Photo by Jonny Marlow)
Reviewed by Julia Stier
Easy Rhino Productions
Through August 2
RECOMMENDED
Samuel Garnett and Hope Lauren (Photo by Jonny Marlow)
“Being alive is a level 5 problem.”
A masterclass in simplicity, Clown Sh*t , written by Hope Lauren and directed by Claire Berger, is a deceptively light-hearted name for a show that packs a punch. The design is spare: there is essentially no set, atmospheric sound and lighting design, limited props, and a dedication to practical effects. And it works.
Two strangers, Darcy (Hope Lauren) and Darci (Samuel Garnett) — they happen to share a name — are spit into a liminal space with no recollection of how they got there, and very limited memory about who they were before. As they slowly gain glimpses into their own past lives, their reason for being there grows even murkier than before. Is this a dream? A drug trip? Or something darker?
Moments of spectacle add a smattering of levity to the show’s heavier themes — for example, when Darcy tries to remove her clown suit, only to find that she is dressed in ANOTHER clown suit, or when the two are forced to play out the traditional getting-a-pie-in-the-face gag Otherwise, the stripped-down staging serves to focus the audience on the words, stories, and revelations that the two Darcys throw at each other like lifelines.
Lauren and Garnett are a force onstage. Their natural chemistry and clear affinity for comedy stays palpable even as their characters remain grounded in the fear and curiosity of their circumstance. It’s a hard line to walk, and one they manage to navigate beautifully. Garnett, with his quiet acceptance of what he has done, and what he has left behind, is especially heartbreaking.
However, it’s in the writing that this show really sings. Lauren uses this play to ask big questions in an unabashedly brutal way. As Darcy and Darci are forced to confront their mortality, the audience, too, is made to address its own perspectives on love, life, and death. Much like the old adage of the frog in the pot, Lauren submerges us into the story and slowly turns up the heat, so that by the time we reach the boiling point – Darcy’s realization of how she came to be stuck in this like purgatorial state – we are locked in.
Note: This production includes depictions of suicide, suicidal ideation, suicidal imagery, and flashing lights
Eastwood Performing Arts Center, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., East Hollywood. Sat. and Mon., 8 pm, Sun., 5 pm; thru Aug.2. https://eastwoodpac.stagey.net/projects/13115. Runtime: 90 minutes with no intermission.
