King’s Theatre
Four stars
Roll up! Roll up! America may not be the greatest show on earth in Geoff Sobelle’s tragicomic depiction of a big top in free fall, but oh, what a night. The acrobats have somersaulted off into the distance, the ringmaster has gone west, and with only the clowns left behind and left to their own devices, the lunatics appear to have take over the asylum, But at least they have an audience, so of course they’ll provide the entertainment, albeit in all its shambolic, falling apart glory.
There’s nothing subtle in Sobelle’s latest work, an Edinburgh International Festival commission following the American physical auteur’s previous visits in 2018 with HOME and 2023 with FOOD. What there is in Clown Show’s 100-minute construction is a meticulously madcap series of ensemble routines that take familiar gags only to upend them beyond the regular pratfalls to self destruct on a grand scale. Lined up in search of approval from the lifesize puppets who make up what is left of their dead audience, the nine characters on stage aren’t funny clowns. They are not even sad or scary clowns. They are desperate.
With music at the heart of the piece, the evening is kicked off in the stalls by a slice of acoustic Americana from well seasoned singer/songwriter Elvis Perkins, whose very name is already laced through with an entire pop cultural history of a nation before he even opens his mouth.
Once the curtain rises, everything starts to collapse, from the grand piano played with increasingly Les Dawson like off key finesse, to the Wild West show that sees roller skating cowboys line dancing while flogging dead horses at the same time.
With the increasingly frenetic troupe grinning painfully through their make up for dear life, there are popcorn interludes, puppet pianists and calamitous junkyard instrumental breaks involving collapsing vibraphones and self destructing accordions. Sobelle and co even manage to smuggle a skronky free jazz sax and drums number into the mix. And yes, there is an elephant in the room
As things become increasingly manic, the pasty faced troupe’s up front engagement with the audience sees them resemble the sort of merry pranksters who might have popped up at a 1960s Happening in which the Fool was king, or at least a threadbare Statue of Liberty. As the punchlines pile up with the bodies, a smashing time is had by all in an explosive piece of serious fun.
Until Aug 30.
The Herald, August 29, 2026
ends
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