We sent our reviewer James to watch How To Art
Taking a wee break this afternoon from the intensity of the Fringe, a friend and I nipped into the calm oasis of one of the local galleries to take in some art. This evening I found myself at the top of the Underbelly in Cowgate having stumbled into another temporary gallery space, this time finding out How to Art.
Entering the Iron Belly the audience is greeted with a number of modern art style objects on the stage – a 3D Warhol soup tin, a still life basket of fruit, and pride of place, two enormous bananas duct-taped to the wall. The gallery manager welcomes you and heads off to find Simon’s (whoever that might be) morning tea. Once she has gone, the fun begins as the bananas awake.
There follows a mostly non-verbal sequence in which the bananas discover each other, the gallery, and the audience. This is beautiful and hilarious in its child-like wonder and joy, with a couple of cheeky moments thrown in for good measure. And this is essentially the format for the rest of the show, the bananas trying not to get caught by the gallery manager and having their own fun when she is not there. It is all very satisfying and wilfully absurd, almost pantomime-esque.
I love a good clown and this is very much what this is. There is, however, an interesting choice made to have the bananas speak almost properly – not necessarily fluently, but also not the silent gestures and nonsense sounds that you often associate with this art form. This has the benefit of making the audience interaction elements easier as they can ask them directly what they want them to do, rather than making the audience members work it out through gesture and familiarity. However, I do wonder how it might have worked had the bananas been completely wordless.
The performers are absolutely suited to each of their roles and play off each other brilliantly.
The physicality of all of them is great, particularly with some acrobatic moves that they make look so easy, requiring no effort, like they are just at play whereas they are in fact extremely tricky and take a lot of perseverance and strength.
As you might expect, there is gentle ribbing of modern art, but it is done with a clear knowledge and affection for the work. Although the narrative is slight, it gets heightened beautifully and it is a joy to follow these two adorable yellow fools on their journey.
If you are clown-curious, I think this would be a great first show to get a feel for what the art-form can do at its best. Equally, if you are a seasoned clown connoisseur, you will find a lot to admire and enjoy here.
Either way, you should really grab your beret and slip on down to Iron Belly to find out How to Art.
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