Le Frenchword Presents "Fancy Mud"

These three Seattle-based performers put on a show of sheer, exhilarating, absurdist joy.

 

If clowns make you think of red noses, acrylic wigs, and weird old Shriners, you especially need to see this show. Le Frenchword clown from a much older and smarter tradition (without face-paint or hokey gags).  

With a combination of perfectly-choreographed and beautifully-executed physical comedy, music and dialogue that is smart, bizarre, and full of laugh-out-loud moments of surprise and delight, they take on everything from the origins of the universe to cell phones, inviting the audience to appreciate and experience the ridiculousness of the world we live in - or the world we believe we live in. 

 

These very skilled performers take their craft very seriously, and this show of pathos, intelligence and humour convinces us to take everything, including ourselves, much less seriously. They make playfulness look deceptively easy, and it's infectious. The weirder their on-stage exploits, the more it all makes sense. Which might be disconcerting, except that we're too busy laughing to care.