Fix It A Clown Show About Climate Change

Fix It A Clown Show About Climate Change

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Posted 2020-03-15 by Caitlinfollow

Sat 14 Mar 2020

Fix It – A Clown Show About Climate Change

Fix It is a one-woman show about climate change.

To be honest, it was a bit strange to me at first. All of it. Anna Thomson's costume was half-tradie, half-clown, sort of. Yes to a big red nose and hi-vis but no to any kind of PPE. Her use of props was minimal, as was the dialogue, in contrast to the abundance of sound effects and gesticulations set to a ripper soundtrack. Combined, this made for a 30-minute frenzy of mime and physical comedy that verged on Mr Bean-like.

But slowly a story started to emerge. We watched as this affable but bungling character responded to a call out for a plumbing mishap. Despite her best efforts, it quickly becomes clear that the problem is much bigger than it looks, and that she is woefully ill-equipped and underqualified to fix it.

It's a clown show, right, so it was always going to be absurd. But then it clicked. Her bitsy, futile attempts to fix this leak are representative of our collective efforts, or lack of efforts, to address one of civilisation's greatest challenges. Public discourse on climate change, in parts, has become clown-like. Absurd. So suddenly it seemed like the perfect fit.

Once I worked out what was happening I quite enjoyed the show. Portraying such a big issue on stage, and on her own, and in this slapstick format, was gutsy as hell. It wasn't a big crowd but the people who were there were engaged, if not slightly troubled, though I suspect that was the desired effect. And frankly, I'm pleased to see and hear something about climate change which doesn't treat us like idiots or try to preach at us, depending on who is speaking. If that message has to come from a slightly confusing clown, then so be it.

Fix It was a free event in New Acton's Art, not Apart Festival and made for a very pleasant, albeit slightly strange, afternoon.

#art
#comedy
#performing_arts
#march
!date 14/03/2020 -- 14/03/2020
%wncanberra
139572 - 2023-06-13 15:45:39

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