Leandre, The Clown

Review in Issue 10-4 | Winter 1998

The Catalan clown Leandre begins his solo show by pissing in the four comers of the stage. He then uses two colourful umbrellas to create images and characters remarkably similar to those seen in Victoria Chaplin's Le Cirque Invisible.

However, the show climbs to a higher comic level, when Leandre fishes an audience member out of their seat with the aid of a £5 note hooked to the end of a fishing rod. He also uses his experience of street theatre to good comic effect in a hilarious gun fight sequence. The final sequence of the show is also amazing and begins with a large red circle, like a light reflector in photography, with a zip in the centre. Leandre adds a wig to the red circle and unzips it to create a close-up image of the female genital region. His purpose is not merely lewd however, as there follows a birthing sequence in which a 'sperm’ is seen to penetrate a large climb-in balloon. This has the audience in fits of laughter.

The end of the show, in which Leandre departs on a toy train, is reminiscent of Slava Polunin's Snow Show. Leandre is billed as following in Polunin's footsteps, however this show is superior to Polunin's, because it is fast-paced and charming without any of the sentimentality that is evident in Snow Show. If Slava Polunin is of the old school of clowning, Leandre is definitely top of the class of contemporary clowns. This show, with its charm, gentle playfulness, beautifully crafted visual and physical humour, is a hit!

Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Sep 1998

This article in the magazine

Issue 10-4
p. 24