jessica aszkenasy @ Assembly Roxy
TITCLOWN is an hour of mischievous nude clowning from jessica aszkenasy that falls at the final hurdle
It is immediately apparent from the moment TITCLOWN begins that performance artist jessica aszkenasy has us right where she wants us. Pinned under her intense, charming and mischievious gaze, the audience squirms, unsure of quite what to expect.
aszkenasy is not your average clown. Dressed in an orange body suit which (quite purposefully) does little to contain her breasts, she sets off jiggling, strutting, daring the audience to look. In truth, there is little else to look at – the gag gets old rather quickly. There is only so much content one can milk from one’s breasts. Nevertheless, aszkenasy seemingly never tires of pioneering a new form of physical comedy centred around the nude female form.
The piece manages to be uncannily oversexed without necessarily being sexual. This is down to the clownish innocence of aszkenasy’s interactions with the audience, encouraging them to, amongst other things, shake their breasts (regardless of gender), apply her makeup, and hand over their phones for her to take risqué selfies. All of this is performed with such an endearing quality that you, as an audience member, can hardly say no to her requests. These requests are, by the way, in French – a piece of projected text tells us to “just go with it.” It is a sentiment that carries much of the performance.
Just as the piece seems to be accelerating towards its inevitable feminist manifesto ending, aszkenasy breaks the spell. Quite suddenly, as she stands crudely smeared in makeup and adorned in homemade Victoria’s Secret angel wings, the oversexed French clown persona disappears. Now as herself, she proudly declares that this was nothing more than a “stupid show about [her] tits”, seemingly mocking her audience for looking as she so eagerly dared them to. The laughter in the room becomes uneasy. Whilst the performer seems more than pleased with this denouement, those of you seeking a more satisfying climax may wish to look elsewhere.
jessica aszkenasy: TITCLOWN, Assembly Roxy (Snug), until 24 Aug (not 13), 10.20pm, £8-12