Long before Bozo, Bobo and Binki, arrive on stage the tone is clearly laid out for the world’s most
morose clowning troupe. With cardboard boxes and garbage strewn across a desolate room at
the centre of which a half empty bottle of whisky sits waiting to be attended to, the scenography fits
perfectly with a tale of three middle aged men with pockets full of balloons and painted on smiles.

These clowns possess less of the dignified sorrow of Stephen Sondheim’s famous musical number
and more of the childish bickering that comes with pointing out each other’s flaws; for example
messing up pie jokes and disobeying industry standards for joke handkerchiefs. The trio have
been in the clowning business for eight years and, aware that they may be approaching the time
to discard their red noses, look to each other in a desperate attempt to discover where it all went
wrong.

Clowns is incredibly witty with the three characters, the sad clown, the intellect and the silly clown,
well drawn and hilariously portrayed. It is not flawless however and falls down in its pacing. For
the first three quarters of the show, the gags and analogies fly as thick and fast as Binki’s custard
pies until the momentum is frustratingly slowed by a number of false endings. For the most part,
however, this is one that is worth seeing – melancholy aside, these are some very funny
clowns.

Star rating: ★★★