Venue: Victoria Girls’ High School Gymnasium
Next Performance: 28 June 14:00
Review
By Benevolence Mazhinji
Clown shows are often written off as frivolous and surface-level, but A Fool For You uses its slapstick surface to deliver something surprisingly emotional. Performed entirely without words, the show follows two clown best friends, Christie van Niekerk and Ane Koegelenberg through a stylised journey of friendship, betrayal and forgiveness.
The duo’s physical vocabulary is elastic and expressive. In one moment, they writhe with exaggerated pleasure while reading erotic novels. In another, they coach each other through the perfect selfie pose for their romantic interests to see.
Clubs, karaoke and dating apps all appear in a breathless montage of modern love. When Van Niekerk filled the space with a vocal mimicry of birds in flight, it was so precise and effortless that the whole audience seemed to lean in.
Koegelenberg’s sharp slap to her own hand captured her character’s fierce struggle to resist checking her friend’s phone, moments before jealousy pushed her to sabotage their relationship. This honest gesture revealed to me how our friends can sometimes feel threatened by romantic relationships, not because they are malicious and evil but because it’s unsettling when someone we deeply care about starts pulling their attention away from us.
The tension between the two clowns escalates with silent but brutal honesty. Their friendship dance, once playful and tender, turns into a charged confrontation of pain and trust. The physicality of their conflict is compelling, and it shows how jealousy can fracture even the closest bonds.
Yet, despite the heartbreak, A Fool For You never loses its warmth and hope. It wraps up with a surreal montage of marriage, parenthood and growing old together, offering a bittersweet vision of reconciliation and enduring love.
