Tag Archives: Claire Parry

Boorish Trumpson

★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

BOORISH TRUMPSON at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★

 

Boorish Trumpson

 

“Good clowning always has a deeper significance bubbling away under the surface, and Parry knows how to connect with that”

 

Lecoq trained clown Clare Parry takes on the role of rehearsal conductor in Boorish Trumpson —standing in for Sir Simon Rattle, who has been mysteriously delayed. As Boorish Trumpson, and with a puzzling East European accent, Parry is on stage to give the audience a first hand experience of life in an orchestra under the baton of a power mad conductor. There is nervous laughter in the audience at Trumpson’s initial entrance, and with good reason. It doesn’t take us long to realize that we are going to be the hapless musicians in this orchestra. It is even more unnerving to discover that Boorish isn’t really a conductor at all, but merely a rehearsal pianist.

It does take a while to figure out the plot in Boorish Trumpson. Why does Parry choose the name Boorish Trumpson? There is a clever use of Trump-like and Boris-like body language in this show, and even some of DT and BJ’s signature phrases, but this is a show about musicians, not politicians. The connection feels a bit forced. And anyway, Trumpson, for all his shortcomings, is a real musician. He has a heart. And he has musical standards. All of which is rich material for a clown with Parry’s skills to draw upon.

Parry’s main strength as a performer, in addition to the physical skills, is audience rapport. It doesn’t take her long to get the audience playing silly instruments, or moving music stands around to Trumpson’s exacting standards, or even being forced to endure the humiliation of being named Olga, when that is nothing like your real name. The humour in Boorish Trumpson springs from the recognition that this conductor is hopelessly inept at people skills. Trumpson is a bully, an abuser, but he also tries hard to ingratiate, to please. He wants the rehearsal for the Proms to succeed so badly, that the audience can’t help but get drawn into helping him.

Nevertheless, watching Boorish Trumpson is a curiously moral experience as we learn how to recognize abuse, and, rather creepily, get drawn into doing exactly what the abuser wants. Fortunately, Parry reminds us at every moment that this isn’t real life. The comedy in this show also springs from our recognition that Trumpson is a vulnerable little man, hampered by incapacitating flashbacks to his own abusive past. Watching Trumpson contort himself around the stage forcing us into his orchestra makes us realize, paradoxically, that we are good people, and we can play a little. Good clowning always has a deeper significance bubbling away under the surface, and Parry knows how to connect with that.

Boorish Trumpson does seem overly long at sixty minutes, and with such a slender plot. Parry is such an inspired clown, however, and improvises so brilliantly with the admittedly very poor collection of “musicians” that Trumpson has to work with, that by the end of the show, any audience will find themselves won over. Catch Boorish Trumpson while you can. But if you too, develop the urge to become a conductor, and take over your local orchestra, beware. Boorish Trumpson is all about the pitfalls of such a path, and why it’s best to stay out of the orchestra pit — if you can.

 

Reviewed 8th August 2022

by Dominica Plummer

 

 

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 4 Stars

Inch

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The George Inn, Southwark

Reviewed – 8th September 2018

★★★★

“there was a palpable sense that this was a Shakespearean comedy as it was written; beer in hand, actors bellowing over a rowdy audience and an overall good time”

 

The Three Inch Fools present their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The George Inn in Borough as a fusion of high-energy multi-role Shakespearian comedy with folk song and dance folded between, and into, the scenes. The end result is an enjoyable, energetic version of the classic cutting through the noisy beer garden and giving the family audience a fun and easy evening.

Directed by Stephen Hyde, this show is pure performance; our five actors cycle through the characters, each positively vibrating with enthusiasm. Claire Parry is a standout but all five were able musicians, great singers and obviously seriously physically fit to keep each scene louder, quicker and with more steam than the last!

Hyde is also the composer and, along with Eddie Mann as the Associate Musical Director, he gives the show its brilliant, if predictable, music with a series of folk-style songs, performed by the actors. These songs will catch any audience member momentarily relaxing with a hit of creativity to leave each moment filled with a can-you-hear-me-at-the-back attitude.

Unfortunately, high-energy does not a great show make. For families and in the fantastic George Inn, the show powered through as true pub theatre and was tight, well-rehearsed but perhaps not as thoughtful as it might have been. The comedy was generous and accessible although repetitive, and the multi-role work was clever and fun (a piece of costume for each character) but lacked the commitment in voice and physicality to not appear as a choice borne of necessity rather than creativity.

What this production lacked in substance, it made up for in comic commitment as the Fools battled and overcame a loud and boisterous beer garden. In many ways, the George Inn was a sixth actor, one that couldn’t keep quiet! There has been a public house on the site since Chaucer’s times (The Canterbury Tales begins there) and with the original Rose and Globe only metres away there is little doubt that the man himself once sat in the courtyard and was rained on a little as we were (bring an anorak!). This context and the cobbled streets meant that, for a touring production, the show felt specific to the George Inn and the performance was best enjoyed as a whole, rather than isolating only the on-stage action. The evening was impossible not to enjoy and at times there was a palpable sense that this was a Shakespearean comedy as it was written; beer in hand, actors bellowing over a rowdy audience and an overall good time.

 

Reviewed by William Nash

Photography courtesy Three Inch Fools

 

The Three Inch Fools

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The George Inn, Southwark until 16th September

 

Related
Other versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
★★ | Theatro Technis | April 2018
★★★★ | Watermill Theatre | May 2018
★★★½ | Wilton’s Music Hall | June 2018

 

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