Buffoon

Anosh Irani

• Verlag: House of Anansi Press
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781487009847
• Thema: Media & Performing Arts
• Thema: Theatre

Three-time Governor General's Literary Award–shortlisted author and playwright Anosh Irani's critically acclaimed one-man show Buffoon is a masterclass of tragicomic theatre.

Born to circus folk who prefer trapezing over parenting, Felix quickly learns to turn life's misfortunes into jokes. His longing for family and home is piqued at the tender age of seven when he falls hopelessly in love with an older woman, the beguiling Aja, who is eight. In the process, a clown is born, and we watch him grow into a middle-aged buffoon. Over time, Felix stops waiting for someone else to love him; his journey becomes one of loving himself. A story of love, loss, and the fate that binds us, Buffoon is a gut-wrenching one-man show that expertly walks the tightrope between heartbreak and hilarity.

Also by Anosh Irani

Plays

The Men in White

The Bombay Plays: The Matka King & Bombay Black

Fiction

Translated from the Gibberish: Seven Stories and One Half Truth

The Parcel

Dahanu Road

The Song of Kahunsha

The Cripple and His Talismans

Copyright © 2021 Anosh Irani

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Published in Canada in 2021 and the USA in 2021 by House of Anansi Press Inc.

www.houseofanansi.com

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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House of Anansi Press is a Global Certified Accessible™ (GCA by Benetech) publisher. The ebook version of this book meets stringent accessibility standards and is available to students and readers with print disabilities.

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Buffoon / Anosh Irani.

Names: Irani, Anosh, 1974– author.

Description: A play.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210218495 | Canadiana (ebook) 2021021855X | ISBN 9781487009830 (softcover) | ISBN 9781487009847 (EPUB)

Classification: LCC PS8617.R36 B84 2021 | DDC C812/.6—dc23

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Cover design: Alysia Shewchuk

Cover image: HRH Anand Rajaram in Buffoon; Tarragon Theatre
Production, 2019. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

Text design: Laura Brady

Typesetting: Lucia Kim

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House of Anansi Press respectfully acknowledges that the land on which we operate is the Traditional Territory of many Nations, including the Anishinabeg, the Wendat, and the Haudenosaunee. It is also the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

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We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada.

Buffoon premiered in Toronto in November 2019 at the Tarragon Theatre, Extraspace, under the artistic directorship of Richard Rose, with the following cast and creative team:

HRH Anand Rajaram as Felix

Director: Richard Rose

Costume designer: Kathleen Johnston

Lighting designer: Jason Hand

Sound designer: Thomas Ryder Payne

Stage manager: Erika Morey

Assistant director: Jill Harper

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Buffoon was given a public reading at the Arts Club Theatre Company’s ReACT showcase in 2018. It was produced in Vancouver in October 2020 at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Granville Island Stage, under the artistic directorship of Ashlie Corcoran, with the following cast and creative team:

Kayvon Khoshkam and Andrew McNee, in alternating performances, as Felix

Director: Lois Anderson

Set designer: Amir Ofek

Costume designer: Christine Reimer

Lighting designer: Itai Erdal

Composer & sound designer: Joelysa Pankanea

Assistant director: Alexandra Lainfiesta

Stage managers: Caryn Fehr and Koh Lauren Quan

Apprentice stage managers: Heather Barr and Victoria Snashall

Dialect coach: Adam Henderson

Livestream director: Raugi Yu

HRH Anand Rajaram as Felix. Tarragon Theatre, Toronto.
Photograph by Cylla von Tiedemann.

(Above) Kayvon Khoshkam as Felix. Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver.
(Below) Andrew McNee as Felix. Set design by Amir Ofek; costume design by Christine Reimer; lighting design by Itai Erdal. Photograph by Moonrider Productions.

Buffoon

FELIX appears on stage, in a far corner. He is in his forties. Felix is a clown. But he is not a red-nosed clown. Felix is his own strange creation. His face is covered in white chalk. He is wearing a grey boilersuit.

A single chair on stage. The set looks like the visiting room in an old prison. It is. Nothing modern. The place seems far removed from the present. Bare walls. The only light on offer is a white tube light.

From his corner, Felix looks at the audience. He seems uneasy. Tender, shy, nervous. His nervousness is tangible. He isn’t trying to make anyone laugh. He is a small, wounded creature. ...