Bristol drag clown Riss Obolensky brings ‘Healing King Herod’ to the Edinburgh Fringe

Billed as ‘a drag-king comedy extravaganza’ that sold out London’s VAULT Festival, Healing King Herod has a 2023 Edinburgh Fringe run fast approaching, before its Autumn dates including five nights at The Wardrobe Theatre in October.

Now the recipient of a string of five-star reviews as well as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Keep It Fringe fund, the show was created by Bristol-based drag clown Riss Obolensky, with director Eloise Poulton – and heralded by Lost Cabaret Bristol as “the weirdest and best thing I’ve ever seen”.

Combining comedy, drama, clowning and drag, this one-man show is an examination of cancel culture, forgiveness, and how self-help and self-care can turn out to do more harm than good.

Riss Obolensky in Healing King Herod – photo: Chelsey Cliff

King Herod, famed for his Massacre of the Innocents, now leads a self-development pyramid scheme. Audiences transform from ancient soldiers into modern clients in an interactive, drag-clown, group therapy session.

Through improvised songs, political parodies, breathing exercises and cult-like rituals, Herod asks one thing: forgive… yourself. Within the show’s chaotic absurdity lurks male accountability, self-reckoning and deep shadow work. Who is Herod’s process really for?

A passionate advocate of the catharsis that clowning can offer collective experience, Obolensky has facilitated clowning reteats in the wildnerness with Clownlife Global, and worked on clowning activism projects with C.I.R.C.A.

Currently, they are working as a dramaturg for new queer writing at Bristol Old Vic, most recently in Astro-Zenica’s show Switchboard, part of the programme for Bristol Pride 2023.

Photo: Kate Hockenhull

“Clowns are subversive,” they say. “They represent a reversal of the normal order, providing an opening to the chaos that underpins life. From Medieval court jesters to Payakyamu clowns, these beings have a foot between both worlds: grounded in this one but connected to a ‘beyond’. This provides a perfect opportunity for social commentary.”

As Healing King Herod’s Edinburgh Fringe run draws nearer, Bristol24/7 spoke to Obolensky about the power of the artform, and about what working in Bristol affords them as a creative person.

Photo: Chelsey Cliff

Can you express how you feel when performing in your drag clown persona?

“In the moments of ‘pure clown’ and play, I can definitely express what’s happening for me through Herod – for instance when the audience reacts in a certain way, when things go wrong or when I am responding to the unexpected (e.g. having to put up a ladder in the middle of the stage to fix the tech or slipping and face planting over some jam).

“The persona I play on stage is also a channel for feelings I’ve had at different stages of my life around healing, redemption and morality. The show is a mix of structured scripted bits and free flow, and these processes are happening at the same time – so I’m having historical feelings while reacting live to someone getting their pint taken out by a flying baby.

“I recently took Herod to a conscious festival; whilst it went down a storm, I also noticed there were edgier moments and mixed reactions in the crowd. It felt exciting for me as a clown to manage these and my own feelings, whilst staying fully playful…. so much so that I only managed to get halfway through the show!”

Photo: Kate Hockenhull

Is this your first Edinburgh Fringe show? What are your hopes for the run?

“I’ve been up before with sketch shows, standup shows, and a five-day work-in-progress version of the show last year. But this is my first time taking a solo show to one of the ‘Big Four’ venues. The Blundabus is a hive for experimentation and captures the true spirit of the fringe – so taking Herod there last year was incredible for its development.

“Now, myself and director Eloïse Poulton are going with different intentions than last year: to get the show in front of as many eyes as possible so it can grow further, to lean more into the tech aspects of the show (we’re doing some ridiculous things with green screens), and to move the show into a more expanded ‘production’. As a result, we’re hoping to get the show noticed so it can transfer to venues across the UK for a wide tour.”

Photo: Darren Shepherd

Do you enjoy playing with or even subverting the expectations of your audience?

“This life has many pleasures… a fresh breeze, the touch of a lover, frogs. For me, there is one thing that tops it all: subverting audience expectations. Humour is such a powerful vehicle for this. When the audience laughs together (hopefully), pulling this back and taking them into something more challenging is amazing. ‘Enjoyable’ is a funny word for it – I’d say rather it’s important, or it ‘has to be done in this show’.

“Life is suspended between light and dark all the time, so making work which plays with these shades feels right. Don’t get me wrong, I yearn to make shows that are utterly silly (e.g. my next show is probably about a giant clump of play doh and/or a mushroom) but seeing as Herod touches on some pithy universal themes, subversion and even contradiction is paramount to the material.”

As a Bristol-based performer, what are your experiences of the city as a place to explore and develop your creative projects?

“Bristol is a totally thrumping city (any excuse to use thrumping in a written context, I’m all over it). There is a creative ease in Bristol, with plenty of community, opportunity and space to experiment. It seems many people have some kind of creative side hustle. The queer performer and clown community in Bristol is thriving – that’s the thing about being a solo performer, you need people around you to support, bounce off, buoy you when you’re sinking.

“For me, the people have been key in the process of making. From friendly audiences to outside eyes, Bristol has a real spirit of ‘try it and see what happens’. Even more established institutions like Tobacco Factory Theatres and Bristol Old Vic have well-funded schemes for emerging artists, alongside endless grassroots avenues; I’m so grateful to all the individuals, organisations and venues that have supported me over the years.”

Healing King Herod is at the Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh from August 16-20 and 22-27 at 9.40pm (tickets available from www.tickets.edfringe.com); and then at The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol from October 10-14 at 7.30pm. For more information and tickets, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com.

Main photo: Chelsey Cliff

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