Saturday, September 10, 2011

Quick Hit Review: Cirque de Legume

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Jamie Carswell and Nancy Trotter Landry. Photo by Mark Fearon.
Cirque de Legume
with Jamie Carswell and Nancy Trotter Landry
Directed by Pablo Ibarluzea
at 59E59 Theaters, NYC

Summary:
Two clowns use a variety of produce to create little vignettes and gags. A head of lettuce becomes "Dusty," a dog who jumps for his carrot treats; leeks are used as whips to train a Spanish carrot-chomping horse; a clown is hypnotized by a a swinging beet among other scenarios.

Highlights:
--Watching audience members double over in laughter at flying greenery, spit carrots and onion sex "a peel."
--I enjoyed audience remarks like, "He can really take a leek" and "Dusty bites the dust" probably more than watching two clowns assault each other with vegetables, but that's just me, not being a fan of clowns or food messes.
--I also enjoyed watching my friend Vickey laugh at the projectile carrot pieces, but I really am not sure whether she was laughing at them or at the fact that I kept trying to avoid all contact with any of them, (not being a fan of clowns or food messes).
--Landry's maniacal facial expressions. There's something scary -- and funny -- there.

Lowlights:
-- "How About That?" as the clowns ask for applause gets repeated just a few too many times in the 50-minute performance.

More information:
Out of Dublin, Cirque de Legume is part of the Irish series at 59E59. It runs through Oct. 2. Tickets and information www.cirquedelegume.

For those of you who DO like clowns and food mess, there is a special 90-minute clown workshop Saturday, Sept. 17 for everyone 16 and older.

Christians might also like to know:
No notes. Enjoy (if you like clowns and food mess).
Posted by Lauren Yarger at 1:04 PM

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My Bio

Lauren Yarger is Executive Director/Producer with Masterwork Productions, Inc. She has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with a Christian perspective for Masterwork Productions (http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/) and is Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp http://www.curtainup.com/, a national theater web site based in New York and editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection, an online source for news and reviews (http://ctarts.blogspot.com/).

She also worked in arts management for The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford and for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

Yarger writes news and inspiration for Christian artists at http://christianpeformers.blogspot.com/ and teaches theater workshops at conferences around the country.

She is a freelance writer and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the CT Press Club, the National Book Critics Circle, the Connecticut SPJ, the Connecticut Critics Circle and Christians in Theatre Arts.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.
Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.
Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.
Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.
Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.
Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.
Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.
Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.
Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.
Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.
Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Our Reviewing Policy

Our reviewer Lauren Yarger receives free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk, the two professional critics organizations with journalists covering NY theater. Journalistically, she provides an unbiased review and is under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows our readers want to know about (we review all Broadway shows and pertinent Off-Broadway shows), Masterworks purchases a ticket.

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