Last December, Rajat Kapoor had brought to GD Birla Sabhagar his play What Is Done, Is Done, a macabre and dark tale of Macbeth, told by a group of clowns. With that in mind, when I walked into the Sabhagar auditorium this November to watch a clown dance theatre from Mexico, hardly did I expect that I would walk out happy and giggling.
Mexico’s Triciclo Rojo, a contemporary circus company with an aim to “link the world of clowning with dance”, staged Vagabond, a clown dance show with three clowns — Cazzo, Lazzo and Pozzo — and a dandelion. And boy were they fun!
It is a simple story of three vagabonds who live by the sea and try to fix the lone lighthouse, thinking that the port could only be called a real home if the lighthouse works.
In their quest for a solution to fix the lighthouse, the trio come across a dandelion in a waste bin. They name it Coco and try their best to protect it from storms and mishaps. For them, Coco is not just a dandelion but the harbinger of luck and happiness.
In this search for happiness, Coco becomes their polestar to unite and love in times of trouble and terror. They laugh and fight, dance and dash against each other while Coco gives them a reason to settle down and care for each other.
At least 40 per cent of the audience were kids who were anyway rolling with laughter. What the red-nosed, white-cheeked clowns managed to do was to get the grown-ups busting a gut too. Happy to have got back our childhood, even if for an hour.


Text: Sibendu Das
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
COMING UP
What: BRC Wesco Inter Club Sports Carnival 2016, partnered by The Telegraph
Where: The Bengal Rowing Club
When: December 9-16, 5pm onwards
Game on: All the top city clubs will kick, serve, bluff, bat… in short, fight it out in a sports carnival. The disciplines include tennis, futsal, cricket, darts, poker, squash, snooker, bridge and badminton. The week-long event will end with the prize distribution on December 16.
Organiser speak: “The tournament is a great annual highlight. This year, too, we look forward to playing host to all the participants from the leading clubs of the city,” said Prashant Kanoria, honorary secretary, The Bengal Rowing Club.