Wonderfully hilarious and entertaining
A frozen clown walks out of a fridge. She is visibly feminine, with popped-up boobs and bum, while her bright red knitted dress does little to understate them. She has just realised that she is over 90 years old, yet her frozen body remains perfectly in shape. The story follows her, an actress, as she is called to an audition for a role that could hopefully prevent her from returning to the fridge and being frozen forever—until her journey goes completely out of her control.
After a month in Edinburgh, Maya Ricote brings her debut clown musical Ay Am! back to Soho Theatre Upstairs with a version directed, co-created and with original songs by Dan Lees. Originally created and performed by Ricote, a Mexican/Venezuelan-American telenovela actress, the show begins with a simple yet universal premise: how does a woman reclaim ownership of her body in a world that only hypersexualizes it? The fusion of clowning, musical theatre, and improvisation gives this familiar question a refreshingly playful form. As a show commenting on the hypersexualisation of the female (especially female Latin-American’s) body, particularly within the entertainment industry, Ay Am! delivers its message without ever feeling didactic. It ends on a note of freedom and joy, and, most importantly, provides just over an hour of absolute enjoyment and laughter.
Ricote is wonderfully adept at her craft, but what makes her clown unique is her natural, likeable messiness, which immediately draws the audience towards her and keeps their eyes on her throughout. Her clown remains remarkably relatable despite the exaggerated femininity, particularly through her moments of showing off and her occasional out-of-character laughter at herself. The show’s comic language is equally assured. Deviations from rhythm for comedic effect, repetition, and even improvised exercises are all beautifully mastered and integrated into the experience rather than feeling like demonstrations of the performer’s skill.
Arguably, the story itself could be sharpened. The deforestation setting, for example, does not add much to the central narrative, while the clown’s transformation from carving her own body up to serve the gaze of the industry to reclaiming her body and experiencing a sense of liberation is not always clearly conveyed. Yet the emotional trajectory remains accessible enough for the audience to understand what she is fighting for, and to cheer her on.
As a debut clown show, Ay Am! is silly, physical, and joyful, yet beneath all that, there is a woman trying to take her body back.
The show was performed from 1st to 3rd Oct at Soho Theatre Upstairs and has just finished its run.