We’ve all made jokes about sending our friends to Clown College, but have we considered sending them to Clown Church? Flayed is one such visit to the pulpit—a professional clown leading a sermon that weaves in and out of time while promising he’s NOT gay, really.
With preeminent clown David Bridel (founder of The Clown School) as director, the show is set up for sweeping success. Upon entry, the church’s pastor invites the audience to stand and join him in a worship song, complete with projector karaoke lyrics. He invites to the pulpit a new preacher, fresh out of seminary: Joshua! Joshua is very nervous and wants to please us very badly, which leads to him admitting to some strange behavior in his past. Just as we’re getting used to Joshua and his meandering but well-meaning and certainly closeted sermon, we are transported to the Medieval Era under the care of St. Bartholomew. Saint Bartholemew informs us that they’re burning the Red Witch today, which would be exciting if we could just get to the castle to see it. Back and forth, the plots of Joshua and Bartholomew pivot, which sounds like it would be nonsensical chaos, but it works well.
Josiah Blount possesses a captivating star quality, truly holding the audience's attention throughout the performance and having them participate- in a fun way! The performance is rife with audience participation, and no one is safe, from the audience member chosen to be the pastor’s wife to the one chosen to perform something of a ‘masculinity relay race’ around the stage. It is in these interactions that Blount’s mastery of comedy and clowning really shines, making the audience feel entertained and involved. Blount is prepared for anything and plays along like an absolute pro, even coaxing some pretty good performances from the audience, who are all having such a good time they want to play along.
The show takes a more serious pivot towards the end, with the Red Witch being burned at the stake, causing Joshua’s narrative to be completely derailed. The show finishes out with about 10 minutes of Blount very convincingly clowning the horrors of homophobia and forced masculinity. We see clowning take the dark side as well here, playing up the situation to showcase negative feelings and experiences rather than showcase the humor. It works, is earned, and is jarring but integrates itself into the script and the world.
It is so cool to see the art of clowning so alive in theater. Solo theatre can be very personal and serious, and Flayed proves it can be personal, serious, and just plain hilarious. For a New York theatre debut, Josiah Blount makes waves.
"Flayed"
Written and performed by Josiah Blount
Directed by David Bridel
June 16- 17, 2024
2024 Queerly Festival with FRIGID New York
UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, NYC)
Rita Frances Welch is… Wait, who’s asking? There are a few answers depending on the context. Rita is A) A New York playwright, actor, and director, B) The owner of 5 discrete copies of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, C) A force of nature, controlled by the tides and called to by the wind, disappearing and returning like the seasons. More material than their author, Rita’s plays have been produced by The Tank, Theatre X, Playwrights Performance, and Rogue Theatre Festival. They hold a B.F.A. in Acting from Shenandoah Conservatory, during which they studied under LAByrinth Theater’s Martha Wollner and Padraic Lillis. Rita’s writing functions as an experiment- a combination of characters in the petri dish of their world, their personal challenges and delusions in a vacuum, isolating for every variable but one: Human nature, which reveals itself every time. ritafranceswelch.com