I’ve seen some pretty bad clown shows. I shouldn’t say bad, but they were pretty bad. Like a Betty Crocker cake kit. You still get the cake but it certainly does not exceed sand-like crumbs. You always learn something when you fail. I guess in a way, that’s just clowning right? Failing something and then trying it again in a different way to make it less ‘bad’? Some may call that learning. Improving.

Improvising in some situations and pretending like something is good when it is actually quite bad. Adding unnecessary ingredients to the pre-made cake mix? I find that to be quite entertaining. Then you get enough laughs and it becomes good. You make a good show! Or cake.

Whatever constitutes ‘good’ is up to the consumer probably but in this case, Hardly Working is in fact very, very good and I laugh quite a lot. And not in an ‘I feel bad for you’ way. More like I want another slice of cake.  

Clowning is a damn tricky art form. I know this from first-hand experience. But Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin breezes through his silly relatable skits like it’s second nature: the sign of a great clown. Dugdale-Martin is working in the live and extremely present with the audience. He occasionally references his notes written on the walls of the Stage in BATS Theatre which at first, I find distracting, however, in turn, it just completely adds to the chaotic nature of the 55 minute show. Each skit explores the joy people find in working. It’s a completely broad topic that really hits the specifics. Tables of props and costumes are placed accordingly across the stage, instigating new scenes when interacted with.  

Dugdale-Martin’s clown is silly with a twinkly eye of menace. Every skit starts off with a laughing bang! The front row gets a lot of attention from the vaping clown, butter fingers, speedo cop, retail assistant and dodgy surgeon, just to name a few. I appreciate their Clown putting significant effort into looking after their audience throughout the moments of improvisation, whilst still keeping the scenes on track.

DJ Will Evans’ sound design is catchy and complements the child-like absurdity throughout the show.

I would challenge every version of Dugdale-Martin’s clown to accelerate through each scene with unhinged confidence. At times, the tendency is to end on more of a fizz than a bubbling bang.

Working a 9 to 5 job is hard, yes, but trying to make a good clown show in this climate is near impossible.

As Peter the waiter (one of the clown characters) says: “Stick at it”. Dugdale-Martin and Evans collaborate with ease and they deserve lots of ticket sales and future funding to get Hardly Working through and beyond this development season! 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer