The Long Pigs

Devised by director, Susie Dee and performers Clare Bartholomew, Derek Ives and Nicci Wilks, the production takes its title, Long Pigs from a Melanesian Pidgin phrase for “human flesh,” as it tackles this cannibalistic concept with glee.

The seventy-minute piece stitches together a series of physical set-pieces, as the paranoid, greedy clown trio (Bartholomew, Ives and Wilks) search for one last red nose to fulfill their quota—by scalping and canning the red noses of their cheerier mainstream cousins in their murky big top abattoir.

A sense of the macabre image inflects everything from the bloody dustsheets draped throughout the set-design by its creator, Anna Tregloan, to the menacing physical comedy of the performers themselves.

All three are trained clowning artists and frequent collaborators (as the performance outfit We!3!). They draw on then subvert classic clowning routines and slapstick gags, revealing a darker side to the traditional clown’s impulse for mirth.

It’s mostly non-verbal, but is atmospherically scored by sound designer, Jethro Woodward to help drive the story. A perfect blend of craft and content, you won’t see clowns in the same way again after watching The Long Pigs.

The Long Pigs is playing at fortyfive downstairs, 45 Flinders Lane until March 23.
For tickets and further information visit: fortyfivedownstairs.com