Die Clown Die review | Benny Boot | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

Die Clown Die promises to take us to nirvana. The problem is that Bootoh (Benny Boot), the clown leading the way, has no idea how to get there. Over 50 minutes, he cycles through meditation, Shakespeare, music, inspirational speeches, rituals and audience interaction, repeatedly dying and starting again in the hope that one of them will finally unlock enlightenment. It is an appealing concept for a clown show, one that sets out to find comedy in the gap between spirituality and human fallibility.

There are some good ideas here, and Boot is an engaging presence, particularly when he interacts with the audience and improvises around their responses. There is a genuine playfulness in the exchanges with the audience, and these moments make the clown feel most alive. But the pursuit of nirvana felt progressively disjointed, with the various attempts of transcendence rarely forming a clear progression. I found myself wanting to know how each new exercise was moving us closer to the promised state of being, but was left wondering where we were actually headed. The show has plenty of material to play with, but it needs a tighter structure to make those disparate pieces feel like part of the same journey.

Bootoh's search for enlightenment takes him into distinctly Japanese territory, with warrior clothing, long sideburns, and props such as a katana, sake and a calligraphy set. As a white performer, there is a question around the use of these cultural markers, especially when they are associated with the concepts of discipline, spirituality and awakening. Yet Bootoh is never explicitly presented as Japanese, just someone who has trained under a warrior, so these references become part of the elaborate persona Bootoh has constructed for himself.

And that persona is precisely what he keeps destroying. Bootoh professes to lead us to liberation, despite having absolutely no clue how to get there. He writes “ommmm” in calligraphy and performs the solemn chant, before moving on to a “haha” chant and then an “argh” chant. Guided meditation gives way to dramatic Shakespearean monologues, while uplifting addresses and grand declarations about emptiness, clear minds and shared presence are constantly undercut by his inability to practise what he preaches. The warrior aesthetic may make him look like a master, but the comedy comes from watching that authority unravel.

But those strengths aren't enough to hold the whole experience together. Die Clown Die has an intriguing premise and some inventive comic ideas, but I was left needing a clearer understanding of where we were going and how each attempt was taking us there. With a more defined arc and a stronger connection between the individual exercises, Bootoh's repeated failures might have built towards something more satisfying. Instead, the path to nirvana feels less like an ascension and more like a series of increasingly strange detours.

SHOW DETAILS 

Venue: The Motley Wherehaus, 432 Queen St, Melbourne
Season: until 11 October | 9:50pm

Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: $25 Full | $22 Conc | $18.75 Hump Day Wednesday
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Images credit: Alana Louise