Have you heard that clowns are in town? Mump & Smoot, a famed Canadian clown duo from Toronto have landed in Vancouver. They bring their latest show, Mump & Smoot In Anything to The York Theatre for a short run. Their show brings a rather twisted world straight from their imagination. We sent our new contributing writer, Tiva Quinn, to check out Mump & Smoot. Tiva is originally from Washington, DC and more recently lived in Alaska for a good 13 year stint. She has herself recently landed in East Van and loves it. She will provide a fresh perspective as a newcomer to East Van. Tiva has a passion for the arts, food, the environment and storytelling. You can find her participating either on stage or as an audience member at the monthly Story Slam held at the Cottage Bistro. Here’s what Tiva had to say about Mump & Smoot In Anything:
There were scenes during Mump and Smoot’s show where my cheeks hurt from grinning so much. But really, the best thing of all about the show was the audience. Some of you might recall that Vancouver audiences are downright famous for being a bit detached, but when I went to see Mump and Smoot in Anything, the audience cheered, we clapped and hooted for each scene, and sometimes we all chanted, “aww…” in support of Smoot, who gleefully breaks the fourth wall looking for support in his endless contests of will with Mump.
In a lot of ways, what you get is a live action cartoon show. Mump and Smoot’s love/hate relationship reminded me of Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam – except in this show the cartoon violence sometimes results in a lot of blood, and sometimes the physical or emotional wounds from characters being hilariously awful to one another take a while to resolve themselves. You can thoroughly enjoy Mump and Smoot as a dark little confectionary, or if you’re like me, and have to mull on absolutely everything, there’s enough stuff in here about the games people play to keep you going for weeks.
Review By Tiva Quinn
Mump and Smoot in Anything is being performed at the York Theatre from May 2 – 6, 2017. Tickets are available from $20 through The Cultch.
Photo Credit: Ian Jackson
ILiveInEastVan.com 
Leave a comment