Coulrophobia

I am not exaggerating or over-dramatising when I say this was a show like no other. Dik and Adam are two clowns trapped in a cardboard world controlled by the evil show master Poco the Clown (aka the most petrifying puppet I have ever laid eyes on!). I thought the premise of the tale was pretty straight forward at first; however nothing could prepare me for the side-splitting, terrifying, heart warming performance I was immersed in on a humble Wednesday night in Norwich.

The show was a delightful and delicate mixture of slapstick, crudeness, audience participation, mime and, of course, puppetry. The puppets that were used were varied though out the performance and I particularly enjoyed the sketch which gave a clear nod to the infamous Punch and Judy. The portrayal of Poco the Clown was flawless with excellent control and switching of puppet masters; but as I said at the beginning that puppet was literally the stuff of nightmares!

Coulrophobia Teaser Trailer from Pickled Image on Vimeo.

Another highlight for me was the dance routine that reoccurred throughout the show where by Dik and Adam lost control of their limbs and were forced to dance along to a creepy circus soundtrack with a ridiculous choreography that relied largely on pelvic thrusting and dry humping one another!

The set, made entirely from cardboard, was incredibly effective and the clowns manipulated and made excellent use of their surroundings to create great humour as well as a fascinating and interactive show. The audience were able to play with toy cardboard boats, cardboard martini glasses as well as cardboard shot guns in a western style show down.

The finale was quite the eye opener and judging by the amount of people I heard say “Well, I wasn’t expecting that… ” I think the audience were bowled over by the hilarious dedication Dik and Adam had to baring all! It was a truly remarkable sight. I mean, who doesn’t love seeing a fully grown clown in nothing but his comedy clown shoes and red nose doing the helicopter with his clown penis? No one is the answer you were looking for!

Cure your coulrophobia and fall in love with the Pickled Image Clowns!

10/10