DENTATA is a strange and hilarious clown and bouffon show. In this “New work from an award-winning idiot” Beth Anne (a woman!), a middle-aged beauty queen (almost!), finds inspiration in Medusa, the Sirens from The Odyssey, and the Witches of Macbeth, is ripped open and reborn as something powerful, ferocious, and entirely her own. To get to the bottom of what to expect, we sent our resident idiot Dr.Pants to interview Julia VanderVeen on her new comedy. You can catch it October 24-26th during Colchester Fringe.
NAP: Hello Julia! Thank you for speaking with us today. I have to ask right away since the photos I’ve seen thus far are… insane. What is your show about?
JV: DENTATA directly confronts the impossible double binds imposed on women: if we are sexy, we are sluts; if we are ferocious, we are hags. We can’t win no matter what we do. Rather than offering a lecture, the show strips these weaponized labels of their power by embracing them with a full-throated, joyful “Yes, I am!”
Using clown and bouffon, the show uses mockery to hit the audience right in the gut. By reinterpreting archetypal “monsters”—a hopeful teenage Medusa looking for a date, the Weird Sisters animated by puppets from my pelvis and neck, horny Sirens battling their own reflections in a full-length mirror—it holds up a hilarious, cathartic mirror to how feminine power and pleasure have been demonized. It brings shame into the light where it can be looked at playfully, empowering both the performer and the audience to reclaim our unpoliced ferocity and freedom.
NAP: So it sounds like the audience can expect quite the chaotic experience?
JV: The audience will have a deeply cathartic, shared experience. Because the medium is clown and bouffon, I am playing with and responding to the audience the entire show. Every person in the room becomes an active co-conspirator in the chaos.
Audiences will experience an empowering, collective release. They will leave the theater having laughed immensely, feeling a little more ferocious, a lot more liberated, and carrying plenty of things to (pardon the pun) chew on.
NAP: Clowning has always been a staple of the fringe circuit and has been growing more in popularity, particularly led by women like yourself. Why do you think clown is having such a moment?
JV: It is such an exciting form of theatre. The artist is responding to what the audience is doing so it’s very dangerous and very alive. This keeps the play so fun for the performer because it’s always changing, and it also keeps it very fun for the audience because they are truly a part of the dialogue. I hope the audience will be moved and will be thinking about gender norms that they may have just taken for granted up until now. I hope they listen more closely when a woman speaks, whether they want to fuck her or not.
Do you like to be surprised? Are you interested in the empowerment of marginalized communities? This is for you.
NAP: This is a one-person clowning show with lots of sets, costumes, audience participation, and more. And since you’re alone on stage, you only have yourself to rely on. How do you manage that juggle on stage?
JV: The time between shows is wonderful because I change and the material changes, but it is quite a big lift and always challenging to put the show back in my body. Also, I have many props and costume changes and keeping those as seamless as possible without losing any of the play is challenging.
NAP: Now this kind of insane clowning does not come from nowhere, what other artists do you get your inspiration from?
Ingrid Hansen is an incredible puppeteer and very alive, imaginative performer. When I saw her show Epidermis Circus it inspired me to story tell with puppets. Oh, there are beautiful puppets in my show! Made by Eva Lansberry. Also, Cyndi Sherman is a photographer who completely shapeshifts and she inspired me too. I wanted to look and feel completely different in each section of my show.
DENTATA is on Sat 24 October 10:00 pm, Sun 25 October 7:30 pm, and Mon 26 October 10:00 pm during Colchester Fringe. While you’re here, read about our coverage of others shows at this year’s Colchester Fringe including about a one man King Arthur, Shakespeare’s least known play, or FringeReview’s resident interviewer Dr.Pant’s (a play in a) DARK ROOM.
