Fool’s Play  Fresh from Western Massacheutes, the cast of The Dick and The Rose are taking the Fringe by storm with a performance that is really going to kill. This expressive reinterpretation of The Fool, riddled with undertones of infanticide has been nearly three years in the making but has finally made it to the stage.  Robert Biggs (writer, composer and director) started putting pen to paper 12 years ago when he took time out of acting as a stay at home father, drafting his brainchild, which has now been split into a saga of three plays, the first of which, The Dick and The Rose, has received steady 3* reviews.

Biggs’ love affair with the interpretation of fools in theatre and comedy has mirrored his career as a full time actor and musician, starting out in red nose clowning. Meeting once a week for a “clown jam” the acting troop delved into stretching the boundaries of subject material for jokers, looking at the reactions that could be had if these “funny” beings immersed themselves into the macabre with acts such as committing suicide.  Biggs’ thrived off finding the “point when the red nose and the whole world breaks down around a stupid clown”. Freelancing together, Biggs and friends adapted their own works for stage, In Praise of Folly, studying the characteristics of jesters and fools throughout history.  Biggs’ attention for Shakespearian profiles, coupled with his passion for playing the iconic characters, such as Feste from Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Company), is reflected in The Dick and The Rose with characters “who come into every situation, seeing what it is and turning it on its head”.

Biggs also speaks of the influence the crazed works of Bosch and Breugel have had on his work, adding a depth to the vision of the fool. Pushing the boundaries of what an audience accepts, taking the daring, and the grotesque and attempting to make them accessible through laughter.  The ancient tradition of deformity, seen in depictions of women with huge breasts, and men with giant, oversized genitalia, is a form of changing the shape of a body and moving away from the safe world we inhabit, says Biggs. Taking this quite literally, the work features numerous representations of genitalia, including a nearing 20′ penis made out of hardware dryer-hose tubing with an open glove (an eye loitering in the palm) attached to one end. Although it’s not meant as an accurate depiction, Biggs’ admits it has not been well received in the States, a note on the differing interpretations of comedy either side of the waters.

Aside from the jovial light-hearted appearance, the darker story of infanticide provides some much needed depth to the piece.  Stemming from a growing “epidemic” where, particularly women, are “killing their children to save them from the horrors of this world”.  Speaking from personal experience in losing a sibling (although, devastatingly through a road traffic collision) Biggs believes he is providing someone to blame in this audacious interpretation.  This may perhaps be most clearly seen in the role of The Crone, who suffers from the loss of a child through natural disaster.

From the legal cases of Susan Smith to Sonia Bellfield Biggs believes he enraptures the horror of infanticide, but leaving the audience with some essence of hope, looking towards a sequel. This stark contrast blowing up the first five laughter-filled scenes and leaving a resonance that you’ll take away from the theatre.

We’d urge you to get down to see this emotional whirlwind of a play, but if you can’t you can watch their full story in a documentary that’s being filmed of the play, over in the States (we will keep you posted with details).  As a child, Biggs remembers vividly the disappointment and regret of a father who wished he’d bought an additional 40 acres that would only have set him back one years crop. Like a whisper in the back of his head, Biggs heed the one years crop calling, and vowed he wouldn’t fall to his father’s regret, investing it as his budget for The Dick and The Rose, an experience that brought him to the Fringe and has, hopefully, inspired him for life.

Post by Hannah Van Den Bergh