Puddles is dressed as a Pierrot with the white silken costume, the delicately painted face and white bald head topped with a tiny golden crown decorated with a red letter P. This is where the associations with the sad clown end, as Puddles, who uses his body and face to great effect, proceeds to perform a show that alternates between singing (with a quite magnificent voice) his own special covers of well known songs, and pulling people from the audience to join him on stage for various – and often quite hilarious – reasons.

Puddles doesn’t quite terrify the audience in the same way that Red Bastard does, but as he sings his covers, constantly making eye contact with his expressions of pleading, questioning, confusion, and fear, he seems to get the measure of who is in the room with him. The device of an enormous piece of chewing gum signals when he’s taking a break from singing and it’s time for another semi-willing participant to join him for another turn on stage.

A projected slide show accompanies the Party, sometimes just as background visuals, sometimes as an integral part of the play. Puddles, already an international star through his feature role with La Soiree, is an assured and in the end quite generous performer, never quite embarrassing the audience and the audience members he involves, acknowledging and in his own way praising all our contributions and ultimately winning over the crowd. On the night I attended he received a standing ovation.