Award-winning Lachlan Werner tells a story that is both extremely funny and darkly disturbing in new show Wondertwunk.
They play Jack Hammer, a Twunk, so named for having the head of a twink and the body of a hunk.
As the strongest boy in the world, Jack performs a successful strongman act in a circus, but his superpower has condemned him to a lonely life. As his father has warned him, he must eschew all physical contact with others as his unparalleled strength could only cause injury.
The young man's only friend is a sealion, similarly exploited in the circus run by Jack's father, a harsh taskmaster making them do impossibly difficult and risky tricks.
It is a solitary and predictable existence for Jack, until one day, alternatives present themselves and things starts to unravel revealing an abstract and nightmarish reality.
Werner voices all the characters with notable clarity, and visually, the show is enhanced by puppets (designed by Freddie Hayes), most strikingly, a wonderful, life-size Grand Guignol-meets-Chicago gangster as Jack's vindictive father.
In this work-in-progress performance at the London Clown Festival in preparation for a run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a prop malfunction is carried off with quick wit and easy charm by Werner, their slick improvisation kicking in again when interacting with the audience volunteer fluidly delivering plot advancement, delicious flirting and comedy on the hoof.
Throughout, the multi-talented Werner is many things at once. They are a masterly comic, clown, ventriloquist, puppeteer and more in this mélange of comedy and sci-fi horror co-written with Laurie Luxe.
This evening of warm mirth and cold chills is highly recommended.
Wondertwunk plays Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Pleasance Dome, Bristo Square.