The Friesian at the Underbelly Bristo Square is one of the Fringe’s smaller venues with a slightly raised, thrust stage.

Parlapatoẽs are a Brazilian clown alley (the collective noun for clowns!) from São Paulo formed in 1991. They have produced over 70 shows in 34 years and this is The Mequetrefo’s international premiere here at The Edinburgh Festival.

The show focuses around four clowns who call themselves ‘Dias’ (Portuguese for ‘Days’) and takes us through a day in the life of this eccentric troupe. The performance is intrinsically scored with a humorous soundtrack and begins with a funny routine of one of these silly clowns in bed.

The 60 minutes is packed full of obscure, ludicrous and absurd sketches performed with perfect precision and skill. Each clown has their own persona and the team bounce off each other with exquisite accuracy, demonstrating the many years they have worked together.

Every member of the mixed age audience were equally belly-laughing, especially as they innocently soaked the audience with a purpose-built self-raining umbrella. The highlight was a flamboyant and totally over-the-top water fountain sequence which you would think impossible in this space but they achieved it with pure professionalism, producing hysterics from the whole crowd.

Mequetrefo which translates to ‘The Scoundrels’ is an exquisite example of traditional clowning. This show is heart-warming, hysterical, absurd and endearing. It’s a beautiful representation of good old-fashioned slapstick, pratfalls, and pantomime. A strong pick of the Fringe.

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