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Theatre review: A show about nothing, yet everything

Theatre review: A show about nothing, yet everything

I’ve just watched a show that isn’t about anything, and it’s absolutely brilliant. So brilliant that I don’t want to leave the theatre in case there’s the tiniest chance that they’ll perform it all over again. By LESLEY STONES.

When I reluctantly get home after a performance of Slava’s Snowshow, a paper ‘snowflake’ falls out of my boots and I’m laughing again at the memory.

This is the magic of the production, which pairs spectacular blizzards and the childhood enchantment of falling snowflakes, without the inconvenience of getting cold and wet. Well you might get a bit wet, but only if the clowns with water bottles take a shine to you.

The word clown conjures up images of unsophisticated slapstick, but Slava’s Snowshow is the most exquisite piece of theatre. It begins with the main character, the yellow clown Asissai, shuffling onto stage with mad hair and an incredibly sad expression. It’s instantly enthralling, with every movement perfect and poignant. Other clowns arrive, a crew of six in green costumes with long floppy hats and long floppy shoes. The interaction between them is delightful, and as the audience settles into the show, they interact with us too.

Don’t ask me what it’s about – I’ve already told you. Nothing, yet everything. Love and laughter, childhood games and fantasies, sadness and disappointment. And music, with everything performed to wonderful music. Sometimes the clowns are just moving, walking or dancing, or controlling a giant bubble with a stick, until that bubble seems miniature when another character walks on stage inside a bubble.

There’s a bed, but now it’s a ship and a storm is brewing and the sharks are circling – and the shark takes bow for being so funny – and a clown is trying to reach the shore but every time he puts his foot down there’s a mad squelching noise because we’re in the sea, remember, not on the stage in flipping Fourways.

And it’s still snowing and the tall clown has this amazing ability to generate snow from out of his sleeves and he’s been doing it for so long now that it’s impossible.

And I’m hearing the kid behind me squealing with delight, or maybe it was me. The music changes to Rodrigo’s beautiful Concierto de Aranjuez and the yellow clown staggers on, shot through by arrows. A green clown appears, bearing the bow and a guilty smile. And I’m back in my garden shooting my brother with a little plastic arrow because he’s a cowboy and I’m an Indian.

The first half ends with a giant spider’s web that leaves you baffled as to how they manage these special effects.

The show was devised by master-clown Slava Polunin (above), a Russian who’s now the artistic director of the Bolshoi Saint-Petersburg State Circus. He created Asissai and the Snowshow in 1993 and it’s been playing somewhere in the world ever since, winning about 20 of the most prestigious theatrical awards.

Robert Saralp played Asissai on the evening I went, and he’s such an expert that I kept wanting to call him Slava, because surely only the genius who devised this show could play the role so well. But no, there are other excellent clowns to fill the role, so the show can live forever.

The stage set is minimal, with hanging panels to pop out from or disappear behind. The music matches everything beautifully, even that little earworm ditty that pipes up time and again as Asissai shuffles around in his daft yellow suit and sad-eyed make-up, with no words, just an occasional mumble or harrumph. There’s never a dull moment, not even when the only thing happening is an old man doing a funny shuffle.

Each green clown has his own personality, and when they conduct the audience to clap or cheer in time to their movements we do it with unbridled glee. Where did our adult cynicism, shyness or aloofness go? It must have washed away in the snow.

Poignancy is interwoven with the humour of course, because we all know that clowns are the saddest people. Saralp is utterly heartbreaking in an unforgettable love letter scene, and I’ve never seen one man become two people so convincingly.

Then Carmina Burana blasts out, the wind howls, the backdrops toss and turn and a mighty astonishing blizzard engulfs us all.

I’m keeping the paper snowflake that tumbled out of my boot as the perfect memory. DM

Slava’s Snowshow  runs at Montecasino’s Teatro until August 14 then moves to the Cape Town’s Artscape from August 17 to 28 August. Tickets from Computicket.

www.lesleystones.co.za

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