Why Are Clowns?
A miniature musical in which the stage is transformed for a night into a world of sawdust, spangles, song and insanity. Join the ambitious ballerina and the world-weary clown as they share their final dance and discover just what it costs to make the world laugh.
Why Are Clowns? tells the story of two people - a clown and a dancer.
Or are they? Are these just roles they perform, as they act out an endless game where each tries to win the other's soul? Trapped forever in purgatory, they perform their never-ending routine and try to find a way to escape....
Originally performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, as part of the 2009 Grimeborn Festival, the production was directed by Aaron Paterson and starred Andrew MacDonald and Ceridwen Smith.
Why Are Clowns? subsequently became one episode in Ghost Light, a portmanteau horror musical, which explores the stories of ghosts trapped in a crumbling Edwardian theatre. The other stories in Ghost Light include the tale of the Euphonia - a strange mechanical contraption with a woman's head that replicates human speech, and the nightmare of a 1970s gameshow contestant who wins the opportunity to have all her dreams come true.
