Crazyface
Nimbus Theatre
Twin Cities Daily Planet- Recommended
"...The horror elements seem to be where Barker, von Stoetzel and Shadow Horse all feel the most comfortable. But it feels like a large swath of Crazyface also wants to be seen as comic, or farcical, or absurd. Comedy and horror can exist together, but it’s always a tricky mix, and more often than not, people can’t make it work. Either their heart isn’t in one side or the other of the mix, or try as they might, they just don’t have the tools to pull it off. Also, I must admit that, given my shaky history with clowns as entertainment rather than just pure nightmare fuel, my particular audience brain may have been more inclined to expect something terrible rather than something funny to happen. That said, the horrific and the grotesque in this stew seemed to land with the force intended, while the comedy seemed labored, drawn out, and often laugh-free. Again, this seems to be just as much the script’s issue as the production’s. If the writer doesn’t give you something nimble and funny, even the cleverest comic often can’t save it."
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Matthew Everett
Aisle Say Twin Cities- Recommended
"...Clive Barker’s creations are often explorations of the carnivalesque (as defined by Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin as an artistic mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos). He brings unlikely characters together, welcomes unacceptable behavior, looks to unite that which is usually separate (heaven and hell, good and evil, madness and sanity), and celebrates the sacrilegious and ritualistic. Barker is also interested in violence, depravity and the amoral as a path to knowledge. These themes are more developed in his later work, but are present in Crazyface."
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Michael Opperman
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