Review: Scotland! at The Pleasure Garden
Scotland! at The Parlour @ The Pleasure Garden
Sunday, February 19, 2023
8.5/10
Delightfully wacky trio The Latebloomers delivered another wonderfully weird addition to their arsenal of clownish tomfoolery with Scotland!
Dressed from foot to throat in an eye-aching assortment of tartan, professional clowns Oliver Nilsson, Jonathan Tilley and Samuel Dugmore launched themselves headfirst into the world of jaunty folksongs, hunting, fishing, war and whiskey in this partial love letter, partial light-hearted piss-take of Scottish culture and people.
While clown performances for adults are violently hit-or-miss, The Latebloomers’ clearly strong rapport in Perth drew a sell-out crowd for their final show and had no issues sustaining loud and raucous laughter from the audience. The show was a delightful foray into the world of mostly non-verbal physical comedy, without the secondhand embarrassment of drawn-out gags, or clownish archetypes. Their precision timing, expressive character work and thoughtful construction of entertaining and surprising scenes combined to deliver a highly refined performance of exceptional standard.
Often pulling members of the audience into the fray, Scotland! Was strongly driven by audience response, engaging with the crowd in clever and hilarious ways, including a hysterical hunting scene, and an exciting moment of warfare. While one act was almost uncomfortably average, due to the audience member whose enthusiasm for participation gave way to an awkward disengagement during the piece itself, it was mostly driven by ‘all-in’ audience legends who met the trio’s challenges with humour and cheek.
The trio from Sweden, England and Australia, respectively, were most interesting for the diversity of their ‘clowning’ personas. Despite all receiving training from the prestigious Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris, their individualised approaches to the general buffoonery kept the show exciting and fast-paced as they clearly bounced off each others’ varying energies and characters.
Dugmore was the most vocal of the trio, with a beautifully brash Scottish accent, and a flask in hand, providing moments of quick-witted response and often driving the action. Tilley’s facial expressions were a constant source of delight to watch, and often a great indicator of whatever was going on in a scene, for those baffled by the clowning chaos, due to his such silently vocal communication. Nilsson, the wholesomeness unassuming, self-presenting buffoon of the trio, created several of the most notable moments of the show with their moments of delayed response or hilariously over-enthusiastic reactions.
While, sadly, their Perth season concluded with the conclusion of this show, Scotland! will undoubtedly delight and entertain at its next destination in the Adelaide Fringe. With its easy humour, charming chaos and trio of delightful weirdos, this show will cure any aversion to a modern clown show, and leave audiences feeling light, entertained and stuck permanently humming the tune of Loch Lomond!
BEC WELDON