LaLaLuna.
 The world's oil supplies are drying up. The icebergs are melting. At least we can count on the moon to keep on shining. Unless you enter the world of Wolfe Bowart's latest show, 'LaLaLuna', where one luckless man is looking after the moon when the light goes off.
"Things get a little strange," says Bowart, who plays the man who has to replace the light bulb that keeps the moon shining. "It has a bit of a surrealistic flair to it. And I use circus and magic and acrobatics and all those great skills to tell a story."
The show is aimed at family audiences, and Bowart says there's plenty for kids to like, but 'LaLaLuna' is also full of references that will capture the attention of the older viewers. "There's sort of a nod to silent film comedians, but there's also modern references. There's a little bit of Metallica... there's vaudeville tunes, so what's nice about all the shows I do with the Shneedles, which is my company, or with this show, LaLaLuna, is they're for the whole family."
It's easy to tell that Bowart is not a local, as his American accent clearly announces the country where he was trained and began his work. But it was Australia that helped him develop this piece. "Last year we did a tour of Australia, with the Shneedles, and we got to see a lot of wide open sky, and about four years ago I wrote this piece, I'd been developing it, and this is really the first big tour of it. It comes from being a kid, and looking up at the moon and wondering ... yes, I knew it was a reflection, that the sun was reflecting off it, but what if it wasn't that, what if it was a light bulb, or someone was in charge of it."
For those of you thinking, 'That's twice I've read the word 'Shneedles' and I still don't know what the LaLaLuna he's talking about', this is the name of Bowart's double act with fellow clown Bill Robison, which has been touring the world for some time now. This time, though, Bowart's on his own. "The comedy of the Shneedles comes out of the angst between the two characters, the tension between the two characters, and in LaLaLuna the comedy comes out of the classic Man In Trouble, so it's two very different pieces. Yet I'm the artistic director of the Shneedles, so you can see my stamp on both pieces."
A stamp that includes a duet with a member of the audience, accompanying Bowart's ukulele with a whoopee cushion (or as Bowart's character Bob puts it, "wind instrument").
"It's high culture like that," says Bowart dryly. "It's classy, classy stuff."
Henry Nicholls
 | 'LaLaLuna' can be found at Umbrella Revolution, The Garden Of Unearthly Delights from Wed 1 March |
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