Three-time Governor General's Literary Awardâshortlisted 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.
Published in Canada in 2021 and the USA in 2021 by House of Anansi Press Inc.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Buffoon / Anosh Irani.
Names: Irani, Anosh, 1974â author.
Description: A play.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210218495 | Canadiana (ebook) 2021021855X | ISBN 9781487009830 (softcover) | ISBN 9781487009847 (EPUB)
Cover image: HRH Anand Rajaram in Buffoon; Tarragon Theatre Production, 2019. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
Text design: Laura Brady
Typesetting: Lucia Kim
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.
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 Companyâs 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
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 isnât trying to make anyone laugh. He is a small, wounded creature. ...