Mump + Smoot

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Spring, 1993 by Karen Bell

They dress like clowns. They interact with the audience and improvise when they feel like it. They speak Ummo, a language of gibberish which you instantly understand because they are masters of communication. They are outrageous. They are Mump + Smoot, a clown duo who have been working the fringe festivals of North America to wild receptions from their audiences.

Their current show, Mump + Smoot in Ferno, is not new; they've been performing it since its debut in April of '92 at the Orlando Fringe Festival but it remains fresh and inspired. It is, in short, a real howl. The plot what there is of it, is just a barebones excuse to explore the twisted human psyche. Fear of flying, fear of death, religion, loneliness, friendship, it's all in there.

The men behind the makeup are Torontonians Michael Kennard (Mump) and John Turner (Smoot). Kennard, 33, has been acting since he was twelve, quitting high school at sixteen and leaving home. In 1982 he went back to school and earned a BA in drama from the University of Guelph.

Turner, now 36, attended university, but never was inspired to finish; after working at many jobs through his twenties, he got interested in acting. The two met in 1987 while taking Second City improv workshops in Toronto. It was in these workshops that Mike and John began experimenting with gibberish. They note that it is a tradition in clowning to play with language - Cirque de Soleil makes use of this idea as well.

Later they enrolled in Richard Pochinko's acclaimed "Baby Clown" Workshop. The workshop explored AmerIndian mask work - each mask was a direction which led to exploration of the inner self and its normalcies and extremities. Pochinko also placed emphasis on the European clowning tradition which involves a joey (manipulator) and an auguste (victim). Pochinko, who has since passed away, actually took this a step further because he believed that there is a joey and an auguste in each of us. Pochinko devised his combination of AmerIndian and European traditions, mixed it with a bit of American-style slapstick and called it Canadian clowning.

Kennard and Turner actually studied with Pochinko for a year and a half at Toronto's Theatre Resource Centre, as well as doing work on movement with Fiona Griffiths and creative clowning with Ian Wallace. They credit Griffiths with making them more aware of their bodies. "Our spontaneity is greatly enhanced by our work with Fiona," says Turner. She can really pinpoint when we're having a problem."

It was after the Pochinko Baby Clown workshop that Mump and Smoot were born. Their first show was called Jump the Gun, and was performed at From the Ground Up Festival in May of '88. Mump + Smoot followed this with more productions including Egg (with Nick John), The Wake, The Cafe and A Starry Night. Bits and Pieces was performed at several Toronto nightclubs. The Dentist won first place for the region in the Crystal Comedy Quest.

Following European comedy tradition, Mump is the manipulator or joey, and Smoot is the auguste (victim). They are an inseparable team onstage, as they share their fears, dreams and spiritualism. The darkness of the human soul is much in evidence, as is the beauty of the human spirit; even while the audience is busy laughing at their crazy antics, there's much to think about. Horror and humour combine to aptly illustrate the human condition.

In the Second City workshops, Kennard and Turner had met Karen Hines, a performer who also studied with Pochinko. Because of her directing skills and her affinity for the Mump and Smoot style she began to direct their shows. (Hines appeared this winter in her own solo show, entitled Pochsy's Lips at Toronto's Poor Alex Theatre.)

In July of 1989 Kennard and Turner received a Canada Council Explorations grant which enabled them to create and tour a full-length Mump + Smoot play. The result was Something with collaborator Debbie Tidy. The show featured Tidy as Wog, the twisted Ringmaster who was the nemesis of M + S. The show played in Calgary, Nelson, B.C., Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto. Something has since returned to horrify audiences again several times.

Another show, Caged played the Fringe Festival circuit across the county in 1990. Caged then played a three week run at the Poor Alex in Toronto, where it was seen by Arthur Cantor, a New York producer. In 1991, negotiations eventually led to a very successful three week Off-Broadway run of Caged at the Astor Place Theater.

In 1991, Canada Council and Toronto Theater Alliance travel grants allowed Michael, John, Karen Hines and Debbie Tidy to study Bouffon in Paris with Philippe Gaulier, a remarkable teacher, according to Turner. Here they delved deeper into the elements of bitterness, horror and the grotesque which are inherent in Bouffon, and which now tinge their work.

Mump + Smoot have just completed work on their first film, a short entitled The Princess Who Wouldn't Smile. Produced by David Johnston and directed by Paul Quarrington, Karen Hines played the Princess. M + S are currently working on a full-length screenplay.