Review: Lil Wenker: BANGTAIL

As Bangtail swaggers onto the stage and proclaims himself to be ‘the baddest man in Texas’, it’s hard not to believe him. He does, after all, have an impressive moustache and no matter how many times he’s shot, he simply can’t be knocked down.

The creation of London-based, Minnesota-born clown Lil Wenker, BANGTAIL is a show fundamentally about a bold and brash cowboy. But in Wenker’s midway switch to Alan the accountant, there’s an underlying tenderness that amplifies the character, turning the lens on the titular cowboy’s crisis of identity. 

The audience becomes a crucial element of the show, given parts and lines with savage directing from Bangtail himself. When the person playing Buttercup the horse doesn’t quite nail that first neigh or the woman given the part of the ‘Drunk Lady’ fumbles her line, the action is cut and the scene is chaotically reset. Other roles include a rooster, a cactus, a tumbleweed and Bangtail’s nemesis, all of which contribute to making the show equal parts farcical and whip-smart. 

Directed by Cecily Nash, BANGTAIL is a solid and eccentric hour from the Gaulier-trained clown, parodying the rough and rugged nature of classic westerns, while also critiquing a vision of masculinity that is ultimately performative.