Clowning has become a misunderstood art form.
Maligned to being associated with children’s birthday parties and being nuisances at travelling circuses, clowns have been losing favour with the public for some time. However, thanks to the publicity and critical acclaim of performers such as Dr. Brown, clowns are once again gaining back their reputation of being mischief makers who hold an exaggerated mirror to society and showing its ridiculousness. The latest work by Australian clown Liz Skitch, 'Spoilt', is one such show revealing how shallow people can be.
'Spoilt' sees Skitch taking on the roles of five different, but just as self-absorbed, women gathered for a wedding. Characters include a karaoke-singing celebrant, a former reality television contestant being followed by paparazzi, a public relations consultant who may love her dog too much, Australia’s toughest personal trainer, and the bride herself. We get to know these characters over the course of the preparation for the ceremony and its aftermath. All of these characters dabble too much in self-love (with one taking it to a non-sexual extreme) and are drowning in the same waters as Narcissus.
'Spoilt' isn’t quite the one-woman show we were led to believe; with audience members being chosen to play parts in the show. This tactic can usually come across as embarrassing, but Skitch makes it feel more like she and her unwitting foils are playing a game they are both in on for the audience. When her participants aren’t sure to react, Skitch uses her impressive clowning and improvisational skills to deliver gags and keep their interaction from awkwardness.
It isn’t just Skitch’s skills at playful clowning which are impressive, but her chameleonic ability to completely transform into each of these characters literally right in front of the audiences eyes. The stage is arranged with the costumes for each character having their own part of the stage, with Skitch changing and shedding each character happening on the stage for all of the audience to see. It is amazing to see her go from herself to cloaking herself in the voices and tics of each character. The characters are all wonderfully deluded and draw laughs, but it is the high energy of Australia’s toughest personal trainer and possible Michelle Bridges stand-in Peta Swift who is a highlight, with her punctuating her speech with high kicks and blessings to ‘love ourselves’.
The reason for the gathering is wonderful touch, too. It wouldn’t make sense for these characters to just appear out of nowhere, but Skitch’s plot device of a wedding is a wonderful piece of reasoning to gather narcissists together in a room; with weddings often featuring more than just the bride vying for attention. The only flaw in the show is the lack of conflict in the plot to keep the narrative moving, but the characters Skitch has created keep the showing moving and hilariously all about them.
