Untitled Episode with special guest director: Peter Brown

Veronica Charlemagne, she ran away to join the Circus (Kirsten Throndson)
PT Cruzer, he runs the Circus (Donovan Workun)
Vera Bixtash, the Bearded Lady (Vince Forcier)
Bruno Nicolas Adonidas, half horse and half man (Tom Edwards)
Lillian Leitzel, aerialist extreme (Stephanie Wolfe)
Clarl, a clown (Jason Hardwick)
Ne Pas Nible, the contortionist (Rebecca Bissonnette)
Natalia Buczyk, the fortune teller (Nikki Hulowski)
Buckaroo Dandy, star roping cowboy (Gordie Lucius)
Willem Broderick III, the stagehand (Breck Whiltshire)
Agnes, the tattooed lady (Kelly Turner)
Carnie Cruzer, twin brother of PT Cruzer (Peter Brown)
Burr Lee, The Strong Man (Katie Hudson)
Annabel the Great, who balances on elephants (Delia Barnett)
Archibald Reginald Charlemagne, brother of Veronica (Jason Hardwick)
Abraham, who can fix anything (Randy Brososky)

Guest Director: Peter Brown
Midway Melodies: Paul Morgan Donald
Tremendous Technical: Nichole Man
Prime Producer: Nicole Thibault
Succinct Synopsis: Louise Mallory

ACT 1

Action resumes from the moment the last episode ended, when Abraham Abraham shot one finger-gun at Vera Bixtash and Archibald Reginald Charlemagne. Recalling the property of finger-guns that the bullets travel unpredictably, a slow-motion bullet wobbles, ricochets, and eventually hits Archibald in the shoulder, Vera in the beard, and Abraham somewhere that makes him bleed a lot. This leads to the question, who will fix the fixer?

Bruno canters clumsily until Veronica invites him to sit in a chair. She compliments him on his new ability to cross his legs, a skill many men don’t use correctly. Veronica’s inspiring song encourages him he can be who he wants to be, more than a quarter horse.

Lillian and Agnes meet for the first time since Agnes shot a gun at the high wire wedding. Agnes is disappointed Lillian’s back. When Lillian is around nobody sees Agnes, because Lillian is a Lot. Lillian admires Agnes’ passion and weeps in her arms. Could Agnes be feeling love again? 

Abraham, Archibald, and Vera are all recovering from being shot. Abraham tells them that the circus no longer belongs to Vera. Abraham gave the four hundred dollars to the creditors, and he got the deed to the circus.  But Abraham is seeking someone from his past. Lillian suddenly enters the room, Vera shrieks, and Lillian faints.

Bruno then visits Agnes and asks her help finding a new career.  She suggests changing from dressage to triage. They test this on several patients, but while Bruno is running to fetch the doctor one of his feet falls off. He then waltzes with the next patient, the beautiful stiff lady in blue, until her arm falls off.

Archibald meets up with his sister. The circus isn’t what he expected – he’s actually not repulsed, despite the elephant shit and freaks. He acknowledges he’s never treated her well. They agree about the smell of family, and the rest of the circus members join in.

ACT 2

Vera invites Lillian and Agnes to a bar. Vera doesn’t notice that Lillian and Agnes only have eyes for each other. Vera wants to talk about what they all have in common: P.T. Cruzer.  Where is he? Now that he’s disappeared, nobody’s getting any. Lillian and Agnes make eye contact – they are. Vera says the girls need to stick together. But she doesn’t own the circus any more, the fixer does!  They head off to confront him.

The three women walk in while Abraham is polishing his items of property. Lillian and Abraham see each other and are moved to cryptic monologues. 

Archibald is now full of enthusiasm, which he tries to share with Bruno. Bruno lost one foot, and his butt was stolen, so he needs a new career. Archibald suggests that he could tell jokes or be a strong man, since he’s a centaur no more. More than anything, Bruno wants to scamper majestically and carry performers on his back again. This is a problem that needs to be fixed, and the price can’t be any worse than the current situation. This reminds Archibald of another hunting story – this one about when he was hunting iguanas in the streets of Turkey during the pandemic. He shot the smallest iguana, then saw the iguana’s soul in its eyes, and was challenged by the big iguana Gronk Ribbit. 

Abraham doesn’t know what to do, so he goes to ask Veronica, who is contemplating spinning Bowl instead of Plate. Abraham’s question: would you give up everything for a dream? In response, Veronica tells her life story, supported by interpretive dance (Veronica) and object puppetry (Abraham). It’s very moving. Her advice is to go for it, even if the price is heartbreak.  

Meanwhile, whatever happened to that bullet? After collapsing on the floor with a hacking cough, it stirs and eventually soars off in one direction.

Bruno demands his legs back from a distracted Abraham.  Those legs are gone, Abraham says.  He might be able to find another pair, but there is a price. Three Herculean tasks, in fact.  The first is to take a certain suitcase to the creditors, tap it three times, then run away while covering his ears.  Challenge accepted!

Bruno meets the three investors. They talk of money money money. Bruno implies that the case is full of money, theirs for the signing.  They sign.  He taps it for luck, once, twice, thrice, and lopes away as an explosion takes out the creditors.

After Lillian and Abraham were monologuing, they went away.  This confuses Vera and Agnes, who then monologue. Since Vera lost part of her beard to a gunshot, she’s considering shaving the rest of it off.  Agnes helps. 

Abraham and Lillian finally talk, in a tiny tent.  He promises to give her an important gift soon.  She asks if he’s ever walked the high wire. Meaningful silence. 

BLACKOUT

Photos by the one and only Janna Hove