It’s about time. They have performed their clown act more than a thousand times, in more than fifty countries. They received rave reviews for it and won several awards – and only now, after fourteen years of touring, has… Pss Pssby the Swiss Compagnia Baccalá, to be seen for the first time in the Netherlands, during the Circusstad Festival in Rotterdam.
The festival is known for its adventurous programming that dares to push the boundaries of the circus genre. Modern circus artists do not avoid raw, personal themes in their performances. In this edition of the festival, for example, a Brazilian transgender woman plays an intense acrobatic solo about her transition, and there is a humorous, also acrobatic performance about the challenges of modern motherhood.
Within that context Pss Pss a relatively conservative production. The two clowns have their faces powdered white, eyeliner around the eyes. He, Simone Fassari, wears a bowler hat and the typical oversized shoes, she, Camilla Pessi, has two red make-up circles for cheeks and wears traditional long clown underpants. These are clowns as we’ve seen them before. The theme of the performance is also not strikingly innovative. But the performance is good, which not only consists of clowning, but also contains technically excellent parterre acrobatics and impressive trapeze work.
Inabilities
It’s an obvious fact, but clown songs are of course actually about people, about us. We allow ourselves to be touched by scenes that magnify what we ourselves struggle with in daily life; sometimes it’s hilarious, sometimes you’re moved, and in the best moments it both happens at the same time. A good clown reflects our own inabilities, in an unusually clear and undisguised form, his play rooted in the here and now of the theater hall. In other words, it’s all about timing. And while this applies in a sense to every performing art, it is perhaps even more crucial for the clown, because timing and truthfulness are to him what the instrument is to the musician; without it there isn’t much left.
First Pessi enters from the wings. Alert, crouched down, she surveys the room. A little later Fassari follows, he also looks around nervously. Only after a while do they discover – first one, then the other – that we are there. That’s a bit overwhelming. Like deer before the headlights of a car, they stand there for a while, eyes wide open, looking at us, side by side, stock still, breath held. Without moving further, they reach for each other’s hand for some support. And then, with the cruelty that clowns can have towards each other, Fassari pushes Pessi forward, to free himself from our gaze.
That is the common thread that runs through the scenes Pss Pss holds together: the everyday discomfort and fumbling around giving, asking for and receiving attention. About how scary it can be to be in the spotlight, and how beneficial it can sometimes be. And on the other hand: how lonely it can be not to be seen.
One of the most beautiful scenes is the one in which Fassari has lowered his chin to his chest, he does not respond to Pessi’s jab in the arm, even when she invites him to their clapping game, which he is normally always up for, he moves not. Pessi’s tenacity is reminiscent of that of the young animal in the nature documentary, which hangs around the deceased parent animal, keeps pushing it. It’s beautiful, it’s sad, and at the same time the disappointed, aggrieved looks on Pessi’s face make the whole room laugh. Don’t leave me alone is the deeply human request that Compagnia Baccalá plays out here scene after scene. It’s what clowning can do.
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