Review: Macabre clowns Mump and Smoot take audiences into purgatory in dark comedy

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Created and embodied by Michael Kennard and John Turner, Mump and Smoot are Canada’s clown princes of horror which means they’re funny in a rather grotesque fashion.
The pair are from the planet Ummo and speak a kind of gibberish that is part Ummonian and part English so the audience doesn’t lose the thread of what is happening as they jabber away at each other.
Their latest adventure, Mump & Smoot in Exit, finds the pair in a graveyard or perhaps in purgatory, as baffled as the audience as to whether they are alive or dead. Directed by Karen Hines, the show could have been called Looking for an Exit while Waiting for Ummo. There certainly are shades of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit in this decidedly existential caper. Andraya Diogo’s set with its foreboding tree, skulls and skull motifs everywhere, plus a creepy gargoyle with hypnotic red eyes implies danger is lurking in every corner of the stage, and very likely off stage, too. It’s not someplace you’d choose to hang out in. Arches are leading into it but they seem to be electrified to keep Mump and Smoot from exiting.
Mump and Smoot are shackled to burlap sacks, that you just know contain something ominous and not for the faint of heart. The key to the shackles is on the top branch of the tree, so Mump and Smoot have to find a way to retrieve it. There’s a bench on stage, but as they discover, and relate to the audience, some dratted stagehand has bolted it down. The whole stage is like one big puzzle that our Ummonians have to keep solving.

Mump and Smoot are not alone in this wasteland. There’s a towering ghost (Lauren Brady) who is probably the gatekeeper to one or more otherworldly destinations. The ghost even prepares a rather stomach-churning banquet for them, the cost of which just might be their souls. There is also a puppet show with marionettes and a rabid dog. None of it seems to make sense but produces the intended laughs.
Things don’t always go right with the props and set pieces which allows Kennard and Turner to improvise, but I have a sneaky suspicion it’s all been choreographed, otherwise subsequent audiences are going to miss out on a great deal of fun.
Kennard and Turner are acutely aware of the audience, at times treating it like another character in the play. Opening night gleaned hearty guffaws at the expense of a pair of latecomers, a loud sneeze, and the search for a pen to sign an important document. It’s a testament to their skill and confidence.

Kennard’s Mump is the leader of the duo. He’s a grumpy killjoy, especially compared to Turner’s childlike innocence. By midway through the 65 minutes, Turner has the audience in his hands, much to the disdain of Kennard, who eventually leaves the stage to find an exit. This requires Turner and the audience to beg him to return. It’s amazing how much rapport these clowns can create in such a short time.
Kennard, Turner and Hines are probably making some important existential observations, and asking some earth-shattering questions, but they are secondary to the spirited hijinks they keep in motion.
Hine’s inventive direction, Victor Snaith Hernandez’s?lighting and Greg Morrison’s soundscape help make this a classy production worthy of Kennard and Turner’s inspired antics.
Mump & Smoot in Exit runs in the Martha Cohen Theatre as part of the 2025 One Yellow Rabbit High Performance Rodeo with only three shows left, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
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