I recall being present at a barn in Maine last year when a clown teacher from Bilbao, whilst critiquing a colleague’s work, offered the suggestion: “It might be funnier if we see his penis.”

Australian master clown Damien Warren-Smith has upped the ante on this with the third outing of his alter ego Garry Starr, not only performing in near-total nudity for the entire show, but engaging audience members in ways never before seen by this reviewer.

Packed in La Cascadeur on stark wooden benches as if we are spectators of the ‘Thrilla in Manilla’, the venue staff issue a stern warning that photographs and videos are not to be taken. The necessity of this soon becomes abundantly clear. Garry Starr arrives, donning flippers, a tuxedo coat (just the coat), a ruff, and a comedy pipe, and outlines his goal for the evening: to save literature from extinction, no less.

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A bookshelf provides the props that enable said goal: Starr plans to depict the entirety of the orange Penguin Classics series in one hour. He needs the audience’s help, of course, but somehow, even as he engages volunteers in increasingly absurd activities — such as pelting him with fruit — we find that the audience matches his boundless vulnerability and generosity and plays the parts with aplomb. I won’t spoil further any expressions of the western canon, except to say that his flawless rendition of The Jungle Book is one for the comedy history books.

Warren-Smith exudes endless charm, charisma, vulnerability, and joy in every second of Classic Penguins. His confidence in himself and the material is total, and whilst banning photography might appear to serve a modest purpose, it is in fact an ingenious way to engender complicitè with his volunteer confederates and the spectators. It creates an electric, anarchic, and tantalising atmosphere where we are enraptured from beginning to end, but also a sacred space for us to be vulnerable too.

This communal experience also stretches into deeper themes. Throughout Classic Penguins Warren-Smith subtly explores and challenges our stigma for the male body with his own. He takes great personal risk as a performer, but this feeds our willingness to gleefully challenge our own insecurities, none so clearly when he tackles Holding the Man. For another text, he warns us that ‘this might get beautiful’, and sure enough, he nude pirouettes with a grace that would delight Bausch, Berkeley, or Balanchine.

To say that Classic Penguins is pure clown almost undersells Damien Warren-Smith’s contribution to the artform; he is an innovator, and one that is generous with the limelight.

However, whilst Warren-Smith undoubtedly has a meteoric rise ahead of him, now is the time to see his work; when it is punk, outrageous, low-budget, cutting-edge, and incomparably funny.

You may just need to leave any sheepish inhibitions at the door.

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins continues with added performances at Le Cascadeur in the Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 23. Warren-Smith is also teaching a workshop, ‘Intro to Clown with Garry Starr’ on March 18.

Read more 2025 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview