Review from: CircusFest, Jacksons Lane, London; 9th April 2018
Head is a mixture of poety, cynicism and the right amount of innuendo and crude humour to keep you entertained. Created and performed by John-Paul Zaccarini, Head is a truthful homage to the breaking knees, hips, and self-indulgent masochism of a ‘middle aged circus artist’, all the while dispensing knowledge gleened from Zaccarini’s PhD research and years as a professor of circus at DOCH. The cyclical power dynamic between audience and performer is intelligently inspected and left me questioning much of what I witnessed, in the best way possible.
Head is constructed as a series of poems scrutinising Zaccarini’s intersecting relationships to his audience, his art, and his past. Some are visual, some spoken; some humorous, many personal. Zaccarini’s delivery is quite charming and, even with the lewd references, he is a very loveable character on-stage. Instead of being lulled to sleep by this lecture the unique sections keep things fresh and interesting for the one hour running time.
The stage is set lightheartedly, with dummy versions of Zaccarini – with green skin, clothed in his professorial shirt and trousers, colourful balloons for heads – strewn around the edges. This is coupled with a kiddies’ aquatic-themed paddling pool (filled with yet more balloons) replacing the traditional crash mat centre stage, below a rope so horrendously frayed that it’s remarked to be almost as old as Zaccarini’s career. Perhaps those with an interest in psychology can see a further connection between the visual metaphors and Lancanian psychoanalysis, upon which Zaccarini’s PhD research methodology was based. The music, composed and arranged by Peter Coyte, blends well with the spoken word aspects of the show and creates a sonically pleasing backdrop for Zaccarini’s less chatty moments.
The few technical difficulties that arose seem to go hand-in-hand with the themes of anxiety and failure that permeate the performance. Due to the nature of this pleasantly befuddling show I honestly can’t tell whether they were intentional or not. Oh, don’t be silly! But…Hang on… As an audience we are repeatedly toyed with and I certainly enjoyed it. Is he really breaking up with us, or just shifting the relationship onto new ground?
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