Sugar: The Story of a Boxer by Don't
Get Upstairs
La Mama at Carlton Courthouse
8.30pm Wed to Sat, 6.30pm Sun until November 16, 2002
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Two-hander clown shows are becoming de
rigeur on the Melbourne fringe theatre circuit. Sugar: The
Story of a Boxer, by Joseph Sherman and
Nick Papas, is no exception.
This is a
slight and short piece with plenty of slapstick routines. It has some funny,
charming moments and very cute characters.
Sugar does,
however, have some gaps and flaws that might need attention in any further
production.
Sugar (Sherman)
is a fictional boxing champion. He is born to Mamma ( Papas) in a shrill
birthing scene performed in a goofy clown style. He emerges from between
Mamma's legs as a fully dressed boxer.
We follow
Sugar's life and career from birth through his early childhood Mamma feeds him
on Sustain cereal that miraculously
makes him grow into a huge fighter.
He trains
for the boxing ring, accidentally knocks out his trainer, fights a big, bad
Jamaican, falls in love and, finally, wins the World Heavyweight Championship.
Sherman and
Papas perform in traditional red clown noses. In classic clown form , they
postpone all action, perform directly to the audience, charm and engage us.
One of their
comic signatures is that they make a meal of scene changes. They put on special
see-in-the-dark spectacles and take forever to moving a table and changing
costumes.
What makes
it funny is that we can see every silly thing they do in their pseudo darkness.
This device
is funny initially but is laboured and over-used by the end of the show. We
know the gag by the third time then it stops being funny.
Papas and
Sherman play dual roles: their actor-clown personae as well as the characters
in Sugar's story.
They address
the audience as Boris ( Sherman) and Bertie (Papas). Boris has a Russian name
but a wonderfully fake French accent. Bertie seems to be from somewhere between
Greece or the Baltic.
Both actors
have delightfully mobile faces. They grimace and pout, grin and squint at us as
Bertie and Boris fumble their way through their Story of Sugar's career.
With some
tightening of the script and action, this will make a sweet clown show. We may look
forward to their upcoming show: Russian
Soup.
By Kate
Herbert
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