Fringe Review

The best way to describe “Cirque du Fils” is to use a line from the show: “These people have come to see a juggling gorilla and they have been met with the most traumatic night of their lives.” LA-based clown performer, Jason DeGraff, creates this absurdist riff on circus themes through quick costume changes, physical dexterity, hilarious props, and tongue-in-cheek pathos bordering on the philosophic.

As the show begins, we are greeted by the tall and lanky ringleader, who recites “Talk amongst yourselves, the show has not started yet” while he skip-steps around the Levin stage addressing audience members.  When the show finally begins, the ringleader disappears, and a gorilla bound by a long chain creeps out from the back curtain.  We soon realize the gorilla has escaped from the circus and we may all be at peril!

The succeeding acts are a motley collection of audience interaction and gorilla lampoons including dueling bananas, a Cinderella-themed love story, the “tickle game”, and maybe, (just maybe) a simian striptease. Each act ends in disaster and is interspersed with a return of our fearless ringleader who delivers nonsensical motivational speeches and musings on the plight of performers. The sheer energy it takes to perform this show is breath-taking, but DeGraff commands the stage never dropping a beat (or banana).

At first, I couldn’t figure out what the title “Cirque du Fils” – which translates into Circus of the Son – had anything to do with the show.  Then I realized Cirque du Soleil is “Circus of the Sun” setting up a clever pun-in-translation (Son vs. Sun). Everything about Shit Postmodernist Theatre Company’s production is clever, absurdist, fringe-y fun!