An entire circus extravaganza is crammed on one itty-bitty stage, where a trained dog and a magician dazzle the audience with their tricks. Sharp knives are thrown and caught — through clenched teeth! A horse prances about the stage, then rolls down on its flank and gets patted by its trainer.
And to think “Cirque de Légume,” the show in which all this happens, involves just two clowns and armfuls of vegetables, most of which they destroy.
Emulating an over-enthusiastic handler, clown No. 1, Nancy Trotter Landry, stuffs carrots into the mouth of her hard-working horse, mimed by clown No. 2, Jaimie Carswell. He chews and chews and when he can’t keep up anymore, spits them out in big orange sprays.
Lettuce and leeks fare no better: They’re savagely torn into pieces, shredded and stomped on, until the stage is covered in mangled produce. Needless to say, it’s a right old mess — which in kid-speak translates as awesome.
At least the chili peppers used as mock knives get a revenge when Carswell catches one in his mouth — then attempts to cool the fire by licking whatever’s on hand.
But it’s not all about pulverizing greens. Landry uses a beet to hypnotize Carswell into thinking he’s a mouse, or maybe it’s a rabbit. Later, she proceeds to suggestively strip an onion’s layers — don’t worry, it’s all very PG.
Despite the French title — “légume” means vegetable — the pair hail from Ireland, and the show’s sparse dialogue is in English. Not that you need much of it anyway, since both performers are nimble physical comedians who let their rubber bodies do the talking.
As is often the case with clowns, some of the funniest moments are when they desperately try to look dignified as the darn vegetables misbehave. Faced with adversity, Carswell and Landry straighten up and shout out their catchphrase: “How ’bout that!”
Hoping for things to go wrong in a show feels just right here.