Created and performed by Andrea Barello, Tonight! A Clown Who Wanted to be Loved? is a show that uses the classic trope of the clown as a tragic figure hiding their inner sadness behind the make-up and costume that comes with the role. Even as Barello welcomes guests to his house and entertains them, there is the suggestion of loneliness and a need to be loved that is never far from the surface in a performance that combines humour and pathos in the right proportions.
The show opens with general light hearted clowning and jokes with tape measures and stethoscopes to establish the public persona of the clown before Barello draws us in to the inner world with a masterful sequence of set piece scenes where audience members become visitors to his house.
The physical humour is inventive and playful particularly on a date where he is attempting to draw a portrait of the person he is spending the evening with, accompanied by a relaxing jazz soundtrack album. The use of music throughout is clever as well-chosen tracks stop and start to accompany the movement and mood of the performance.
The success of the show is in part dependent on the members of the audience leaning into the absurdity and playing their roles alongside Barello rather than simply becoming spectators on a stage. Barello knows this and ensures that the people he invites up are volunteers not conscripts to the proceedings. For the most part they roll with it and deserve the applause that comes their way.
The largely silent show ends with a short spoken section that provides a nice summary of the choices made and the motivations and desires that lie behind so many of the most loved comic performers over the years.
Charming, clever and sweet in equal measure, this is a funny and poignant performance.
Runs until 24 August 2025
