EDINBURGH FRINGE: Scaramouche Jones or The Seven White Masks at Bijou, St Andrew’s Square*****
Scaramouche Jones cuts a tragic, almost grotesque, figure as he drunkenly stumbles onto the stage in, appropriately, the Bijou Spiegeltent, feeding my lifelong fascination for clowns and my childhood terror of them.
But although a stock clown character from the 16th century commedia dell’arte, associated with Harlequin and, later Punch and Judy, Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche opens our eyes to a completely different world, one in which he was abused, paraded or lauded for his ‘white’ face.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999 and Scaramouche is about to celebrate his 100th birthday…by dying. That he wants to share his last hours with us is something I shall remember for a very long time. His life has not only been very colourful but in the mix he manages to occupy numerous characters and to include accounts of the great historical moments of those 100 years, from the end of the American War of Independence to the Second World War when, at the age of 51, he discovered that by clowning he could put a smile on the faces of the children waiting to be shot or sent to the gas chambers.
And what a treat, indeed a privilege, that in that little tent on St Andrew’s Square we are able to see the man who created this character 25 years ago (since when it has toured the world and won numerous awards) and who last performed it at the Fringe in 2008. This is a masterclass in storytelling, a diamond among the many gems occupying the Fringe, and has to be seen.
The story is evocative, moving, and rich as Scaramouche sheds the layers of his fascinating life, leaving himself bare before us, and made so much more of a theatrical experience by Ashley Martin-Davis’s and Adam Cork’s haunting set and sound designs, award-winning artist and animator Damian Hale’s atmospheric videos and Olivier Award-winning Guy Masterson’s direction.
Scaramouche Jones or The Seven White Masks is at Bijou, St Andrew’s Square until Aug 30 (1 hr 30 mins)
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