Stage: From a meow to a roar

Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour
with Daniel Tobias, Clare Bartholomew
Jackson's Lane, Highgate • 2.Jul.25 ★★★★★

Fresh from performing at Glastonbury, Otto and Astrid take North London by storm for one night only as part of the London Clown Festival. Designed to explore their artistic development through various stages, Taylor Swift-style, this show features the hits from throughout their career as the band Die Roten Punkte, hand-selected by Astrid with no unauthorised songs allowed. At least not while she's on stage.

It's difficult to describe this act, other than to say that these two performers are experts at dead-pan comedy, physical clowning and, most of all, properly banging music that immediately gets under the skin with catchy tunes and hilariously smart, innuendo-filled lyrics. Astrid gleefully leans into the smuttier suggestiveness, while Otto doesn't quite get it. These are indelible characters, siblings who can't quite escape the rivalry between them, even in the way they share stories from their childhood. Otto is the loveable sweetheart, while Astrid is a demanding diva. But it's clear that they watch out for (and are perhaps a little bit frightened of) each other.

This show features favourite songs from nearly two decades, interspersed with stories and audience interaction that's sublimely ridiculous. A slapstick sequence involving Astrid's sleeves and a microphone stand is priceless. Rock-n-roll belters include Burger Store Dinosaur, Second Best Friend and Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter (I Am a Lion). There's also the riotously outrageous The Situation and the call-and-response glee of Tasty Snak. At various points, Astrid leaves the stage and Otto goes rogue with his sweeter unauthorised numbers, such as his Iggy Pop homage I Wanna Be Your Kitten. Astrid is not amused.

Creating a very big sound with their child-sized instruments, Otto guitars and Astrid on drums, this duo entertains the audience on so many levels that it's almost dizzying. It's difficult to stop laughing at their banter, which is delivered with earnest sincerity. Their physical schtick is expertly played to look completely out of control, including their impressive rock-god choreo. In the stories, they layer jokes and absurd silliness into emotional narratives. And the music is simply fabulous. It's no surprise that essentially everyone who sees them joins their fan club.

For more, OTTO & ASTRID >

photos by Peter Enwight, Christine Fiedler, Andrew Wuttke, Aaron Walker
2.Jul.25

Stage: Send in the clowns

London Clown Festival 2025
hosts Dan Lees and Neil Frost, aka The Establishment
with Sarah Woolfenden, Tom Penn, Julie Nesher, Josh Glanc, Lil Wenker, Rob Duncan, Paulina Lenoir, Patricia Langa
Soho Theatre, Jackson's Lane and other venues • 16.Jun-4.Jul.25 ★★★

This year's London Clown Festival, an annual event that previews shows that will be playing the Edinburgh Fringe, kicked off with a rather uneven two-hour cabaret that unfolded in typically riotous style at Soho Theatre's Upstairs space. The evening was hosted by the Establishment (Dan Lees and Neil Frost), adept goofballs who continually ask the audience if we think the show has started yet. Their rolling improv is properly nutty, as they decide on songs to sing, impersonations to perform, news headlines to read, games to play and audience members to play with.

The first act is Sarah Woolfenden, painted and dressed in white as she surreally wanders around the stage urging the audience to embrace the clown within. She then takes her place in the house band, alongside Lees, Tom Penn and Julie Nesher. Their music has a wonderfully bouncy rhythm to it, and Sarah provides all manner of noises, whistles and horns. They accompany most of the acts that follow, including Josh Glanc, who charges through his hilariously awkward material, singing a series of very similar songs while taking on audience members who challenge him. This makes his set feel somewhat tense, as if it is spiralling out of control, but his scrappy charm keeps us on his side.

Up next is the baddest man in Texas (Lil Wenker), a strutting Wild West drag king with a Groucho moustache and cigar, plus spoons on their ankles. With a flirtatious and very silly attitude, he uses his growly voice to get audience members to repeat key phrases that then play out in an epic story. It's utterly ridiculous, and very funny. And now it's Rob Duncan, who triumphantly introduces himself as having been crowned Printer of the Year, then launches into an absurd demonstration of performance printing. This involves two portable printers that spew out pages that feed into his punchlines, just like magic! Indeed, he even prints a rabbit from his hat.

Emerging on his own, the band's bassist Penn takes the stage dressed as a chef wearing a set of red curtains (complete with the rod), singing and dancing, before his manager-wife Nesher emerges perched on his back to take over the show. Their goofy act is packed with riotous sight gags as they dive into one random joke after another. 

And finally we have Conchita and Lola, or Conchola, freaky flamenco-style black widows played by Paulina Lenoir and Patricia Langa. They speak in eerie unison, perhaps the least improvisational act of the night, as they recount the epic saga of their witchy lives and deaths. Their hyper-dramatic performance is hugely amusing, as they stare down the audience and perform their nutty choreography.

All of these acts and many more are performing in the festival. For info, see LONDON CLOWN FESTIVAL >

See also: notes from the 2024 CABARET > 

Soho Theatre, 16.Jun.25

Stage: Elasticity and emotion

Filibuster
by Kook Ensemble
with Tom Gaskin
dir Sean Kempton
set & costume Adrian Linford • sound design Pete Buffery
Jackson's Lane, London • on tour 14.Sep-8.Nov.24 ★★★★

Inspired by the classical silent movies of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, this one-man show combines mime, juggling, slapstick and circus performance to tell the gentle story of a lonely man longing for love. Performed with physical elasticity and engaging emotion by Tom Gaskin, this is an amusing and warm one-hour piece punctuated with moments of expert balance and juggling work. There may be a bit too much dead space in the show to hold the attention of young children, but grown-ups will find plenty to connect with.

It opens as Gaskin's character moves to an isolated cottage pulling a pile of luggage and an armchair, cleans up a bit and makes himself at home. After a very cool sequence in which he balances and juggles with a hat, umbrella and cigar, he produces a mannequin torso dressed as his butler, who keeps him company and provides some witty interaction, largely because the butler proves to be rather possessive. This extends as Gaskin pulls up an audience member to perform the butler in a series of scenes, starting with a breadstick sword fight. Later there's a clever and seriously impressive block juggling sequence and a lively birthday party that leads to balancing an entire row of chairs.

Through all of this, the plot evokes emotion in this man's yearning for companionship. Sight gags abound as the set itself comes to life, opening hatchways that reveal wonderfully inventive props, images and even mini sets. And as the show continues, props pile up on stage in an enjoyable mess. There's very little actual dialog, but Gaskin mumbles words accompanied background music to make it very clear what he's thinking and saying. And there's also some very clever audio wordplay. His audience work is remarkably easy, flirting with a woman, using someone as a letterbox through which he posts various messages and orchestrating the crowd in a call and response moment. 

The show is a very astute mix of cute silliness and awkward humanity, as Gaskin playfully tries to look smooth even in his clumsiest moments. The narrative feels a bit random, and Gaskin spends rather a lot of time waiting for the next thing to happen, which allows everything to dribble to a halt. Then the music wakes things up, and we're off again, culminating in an elaborate bit of balancing and juggling that once again combines a collection of unexpected objects. So even if the show feels like it could be a bit tighter, it's so thoroughly endearing that we'd happily watch it again, simply to see how Gaskin responds to the chaos this time.

For info, KOOK ENSEMBLE >

Photos by Roy Riley and Jackson's Lane • 18.Oct.24

Stage: Just clowning around

London Clown Festival
host Riss Obolensky
with Piotr Sikora, Paula Valluerca, Nancy Trotter Landry, Neil Frost, Frankie Thompson
band Sarah Woolfenden, Dan Lees, Tom Penn, Julie Nesher
Soho Theatre, Jackson's Lane and other venues
8-25.Jul.24 ★★★★

London Clown Festival brings three weeks of riotous physical comedy to venues across the capital ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe, and it kicked off with a lively two-hour cabaret featuring a number of notable acts playfully interacting with the audience in the upstairs studio space at Soho Theatre. The results were a bit uneven, as these kinds of programmes usually are, but the general atmosphere was hilarious, especially as the performers unapologetically went for it. And being press night, this included some pointed interactions with critics in attendance.

Obolensky

The energetic host for the evening is Michael (Obolensky), an Aussie drag king who proudly notes that his stand-up comes from 1989 and wears a tie emblazoned with the word "creep". He introduces the excellent four-piece live band for the show, then launches into a bit involving an HR complaint line, helping the audience sort out their workplace gripes through improvised song in various genres. It's very, very silly, and continues in between the acts throughout the night. The first performer is the band's trumpeter Sarah Woolfenden, who does amusingly absurd new age-style beat poetry to set the mood: "We know not what will happen".

Furiozo

Then it's the fabulous tough guy Furiozo (Sikora), who wordlessly mimes a riotous crime caper with the help of a few audience members. This includes a robbery, elaborate chase and jailhouse escape, all of which play out in very funny ways thanks to Furiozo's warm-hearted undercurrents. (Furiozo performed a variation of this routine in January at Stamptown.) He's followed by another of my favourites of the night, Madame Señorita (Valluerca), who strides out with diva-like confidence and Celine Dione-style delusion to sing a sultry song in Spanish that's punctuated by conversations with audience members she thinks she recognises. The deadpan delivery, visual sight gags and soapy side stories she creates are hilarious.

Woolfenden, Suki Tawdry, Frost

The next two acts are downright surreal, more slapstick performance art than comedy. Suki Tawdry (Trotter Landry) shyly takes the spotlight and enters into all-out war with the microphone stand while the band fills in the gaps. Then she struggles with a stack of papers before mumbling a poem and fleeing the stage. Neil Frost bounds out to perform a Shakespeare tribute, battling a wig and cape that simply won't stay on as he prances and poses around the stage to the music, pausing to shout "Shakespeare!" and taking audience requests, with similarly messy results.

Madame Señorita, Thompson

And finally there's the hugely talented Frankie Thompson, who performs a fiendishly witty CCTV camera romance to Every Breath You Take, then launches into an uncanny verbatim performance to spoken word recordings of people saying "horrible things". This includes recounting a meeting with Margaret Thatcher, baking the perfect scone and more vile Thatcher musings. Strikingly physical and unnervingly in synch, she ends the show on a very strong note indeed.

For details, LONDON CLOWN FESTIVAL >

Soho Theatre, 8.Jul.24