Lil Wenker: Bangtail is a beautifully bonkers, hilarious clown show that leans heavily on audience participation to generate the laughs. This isn’t the clowning of brightly coloured wigs, pantaloons, and red noses; this is contemporary clowning, where the humour is focused on the character and their interactions with the audience.
In Bangtail, we meet two colourful fellas: the ultra-macho Wild West figure, Bangtail, and his distant echo, Alan, an office worker who represents what Bangtail has become in the present day. The show’s success hinges on audience engagement, with Wenker skilfully walking the fine line between consent and pushing volunteers just slightly outside their comfort zone. Her one-woman show really shines as she builds rapport with the crowd, creating a sense of togetherness as we’re asked to participate in creating Western soundscapes and engage in cowboy-themed conversations.
The first half, featuring the self-styled baddest man in Texas, Bangtail, is captivating and side-splittingly funny. Set piece after set piece brings the laughter rolling in, and its out-of-the-box approach is refreshingly welcome. This makes the slight dip in consistency of humour during the second half, where we meet office worker Alan, easier to forgive. Though both halves offer laughs, it’s Bangtail who steals the show. His larger-than-life persona and ridiculous antics are comedy gold, and I could happily watch an entire hour dedicated to him alone.
While one might be tempted to try and interpret the show as an exploration of masculinity, contrasting the rugged, action-packed world of the Wild West with the mundane modern, spreadsheet-dominated office, Bangtail is ultimately a vehicle for Wenker’s comedic brilliance. She excels at drawing the audience into her wild, fun-filled rodeo, making it impossible not to be swept up in the barely contained chaos.
The show ends with a faux-gooey American sitcom-style heart-to-heart, poking fun at the tendency of some comedians to deliver a meaningful message. It’s all done tongue-in-cheek, leaving the audience laughing until the very end. Utterly worth a watch for its unique approach and volume of chuckles, Bangtail will blow your socks off… and possibly your feet and a number of other appendages through the hail of gunfire and laughter.
