HUMOR ABUSE AT SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE

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How do you make a perfect afternoon? Well, you end it with an early dinner at The Melting Pot and shopping at Bellevue Square. But it has to start with a family outing to see HUMOR ABUSE at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.


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HUMOR ABUSE is one of the most funny, compelling and gasp-making shows I have ever seen. HUMOR ABUSE is a one-man show (or is it a one-clown show?) created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Erica Schmidt and starring Lorenzo Pisoni.

From the website:
While other kids dreamed of running away to join the circus, Lorenzo Pisoni was dreaming about running away from it. Even when your mom is a first-rate juggler and your dad is the king of clowns, growing up under the big top isn't always a barrel of laughs. Though Lorenzo left pratfalls and backflips behind to become an acclaimed actor (Broadway’sEquus, Seattle Rep’s The Great Gatsby and Tuesdays with Morrie), in this delightful, tender new show he revisits his eccentric childhood and takes you inside the wild life of a circus kid.
From the Program:
Lorenzo Pinsoni has performed since age two, sometimes in clown make-up or a gorilla suit, in San Francisco's celebrated Pickle Family Circus, co-founded by his parents Larry and Peggy. Lorenzo's dad and his fellow clowns Bill Irwin and Geoff Hoyle were circus and new-vaudeville legends. But after being that "circus kid" in high school, Pisoni journeyed 3,000 miles away for college, telling no one at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. about his secret ungluing, acrobatic, clowning identity. "I just wanted to be a normal person," says the performer. "I always wanted to be taken seriously.".

HUMOR ABUSE tells Lorenzo and Larry's story beautifully, with heartfelt narrative, family photos, puppetry and exquisite clowning. I found myself laughing one minute, yearning for the 1970s the next and then moments later, having a minor heart attack at Lorenzo's amazing stunts: falling down the stairs, riding a tall ladder as it falls to the ground, and dodging falling weights with razor sharp timing just to name a few! But I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the pure clowning of his alter ego, Lorenzo Pickles. Such elegance in movement, such attention to detail. I found myself laughing at all of it!

"The circus", admits Pinsoni, will always "pull me back in". Well, thank goodness for that!


Hurry and get tickets before it closes on October 23!







By Suzy Conn on October 17, 2011 6:14 PM |