JOFUS AND THE PLANK
BATS Theatre, Studio, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
09/03/2020 - 11/03/2020
Production Details
Turbo-charged clowning by one of Australia’s most talented physical comedians
“Flawlessly executed physical comedy” Stage Whispers
Fish and Twiner’s Bait Shop present Jofus and the Plank, an anarchic new clown work by Lily Fish, one of Melbourne’s most talented physical comedians. Co-devised and directed by Kimberley Twiner (The Travelling Sisters, PO PO MO CO, Maggot).
Meet Jofus: fast quipping, story spinning, absurd miming extraordinaire. Part Marcel Marceau, part Looney Tunes, and armed with nothing but a plank of wood.
This is turbo-charged clowning at its stupidest and most precise.
Life is going swimmingly for Jofus until one day there’s a knock at the front door. It’s the big bad wolf. Jofus leaps out the window and starts to fall. Like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, time stretches and a surreal adventure begins. As they hurtle towards the concrete Jofus encounters a host of outrageous characters and bizarre scenarios. This is a live action cartoon for people who grew up on Robin Williams’ Genie, Saturday Disney and The Simpsons.
Jofus and the Plank is an hour long multi-character physical comedy that melds clown, mime and storytelling.
From the makers of multi-award winning physical comedy ensemble PO PO MO CO.
BATS Studio
9 -11 March 2020
9:30pm
Full Price $22
Group 6+ $20
Concession Price $17
Addict Cardholder $15
BOOK TICKETS
Accessibility
*Access to The Studio is via stairs, so please contact the BATS Box Office at least 24 hours in advance if you have accessibility requirements so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Read more about accessibility at BATS.
Theatre , Solo , Clown ,
1 hr
Bizarre, hypnotic, absolutely rewarding
Review by Brett Adam 10th Mar 2020
Jofus and the Plank is an absolute gem of a show. Lily Fish (who also performed as part of Po Po Mo Co’s Flutter and Flounce, last week at BATS – if you didn’t catch this show, you really missed out: a totally entertaining and hysterical evening that came across as queer-Monty-Python-meets-feminist-Mighty-Boosh) has created a brilliantly detailed piece of comedy gold.
Jofus is a totally endearing clown who seems variously to channel Mickey Mouse, Frank Spencer, Jacques Tati and Lucille Ball. There is such unbridled joy in this show and Fish’s physical work is spot on; there is not one movement or gesture or grimace that is not essential to the telling of the story. She absolutely commands the stage and her relationship with the audience is honest and captivating. She is totally tuned into every response we make and incorporates her responses to our cries of delight or cheers (as well as the wail of a passing fire engine) into her performance seamlessly.
Her brilliant command of her body and ingenious use of the titular plank allow us to not only believe the cartoony world and characters that she magically conjures on the bare stage but actually allows us to see them. The fridge, the steam rising from freshly baked biscuits, the side of an impossibly tall apartment block are all vividly realised in a totally satisfying way.
The writing is very tight and incidents and characters that initially appear to be random and unimportant reappear throughout the show and become integral parts of the narrative. There are beautifully weird moments of post-modern self reflexivity and Fish has obviously done her homework as there are also local references to Wellington that the audience laps up with gusto.
Despite Fish’s absolute commitment the show does drag slightly in the middle and perhaps could use a bit of a trim. It also ends rather abruptly, although totally satisfyingly.
Overall all, though, this is an absolutely rewarding experience for the audience. Fish’s brilliant performance of Jofus combined with an intelligent and satisfying script as well as a bizarre and hypnotic concept makes this a show not to miss.
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