The Simple Simples

Reviewed by Brian Sonia-Wallace
Cirque School LA
Through June 25

RECOMMENDED

The Simple Simples is nuts, and I love it. It is a clown’s clown show, a screwball comedy in the surrealist vein of Monty Python. Their walks are, indeed, very silly.

Director John Gilkey trains performers in his aptly named Idiot Workshops, and the characters’ mix of sincerity and stupidity transcends comedy to reveal some very basic, brutal truths about human nature. This is the kind of comedy we don’t get enough of, and so apropos for Fringe – the show strips each actor onstage of their walls and defenses, allowing us to laugh at the vulnerable character we see mirrored in each of our hearts.

The show vacillates between audience interaction, character showcase and group physical pieces (including very silly dancing), with no narrative logic but with beautiful timing that stays ahead of the audience with quick changes and surprises, weaving an absurd logic of its own. The hour flies by.

Here, comedy lies not in jokes or cleverness but in each character and their eccentricities. The actors are clad head-to-toe in one color, which doubles as their name, and they are are universally lovable and utterly absurd.  They roam and mingle with the audience as we enter, disarming everyone from the get-go: “Hey! At the back – are those hats? Are you wearing hats?” Gemma Soldati’s tongue-twisting Red asked me and the guy sitting next to me, demandingly.  

My personal favorite was Tim Reid’s Blue, who is earnest and philosophical to the point of unbearability. He dolls out profound statements that quickly devolve into nonsense, but never breaks his ponderous delivery, as if the weight of the world rested on his statements. In some ways, we have to agree with him — the things we take seriously are quite silly, and this silliness, in some ways, is the closest we can get to the truth.

For those in search of stand-up comedy, this may not be your cup of tea, but if you are open to something more daring and not afraid to laugh at stupid, then do not miss this show.

Cirque School LA, 5640 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028; Friday and Saturday June 10-25 at 9pm. Tickets at https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3803. Running time: 60 minutes.