"The three performers in 500 Clown Macbeth--Adrian Danzig, Paul Kalina, and Molly Brennan--have all done good work elsewhere, especially Danzig in Lookingglass Theatre's highly athletic 1999 production of The Baron in the Trees. But nothing they've accomplished alone has matched the fearless work they do together in this smart, hilarious show, based on the premise that three fools are trying to perform Macbeth without costumes, a proper set, or full knowledge of the script. Thrown into a Keaton-esque universe, they must deal with uncooperative props and set pieces, and small dramatic gestures quickly devolve into dangerous stunts. In one sequence, all three find themselves climbing around a rickety scaffold trying to retrieve a crown hanging from the rafters. But through all their travails, they never quite abandon the hope of telling the story of the Scottish warrior. And whereas in traditional clowning women are usually relegated to the sidelines and/or forced to play the sweet ingenue, in this show off-Loop veteran Brennan shares the risks and laughter as the three kick, claw, fight, tumble, and bicker their way through this highly abstract and eccentric version of Shakespeare's play. Lots of people do physical comedy these days, but few do it with this kind of precision, power, and intelligence.? Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader April 26, 2002

Heading to "500 Clown Macbeth" at the Chopin Theater? Don't expect to see people in brightly colored wigs, red plastic noses and large pants or shoes. Heck, don't even expect 500 people, says Chicagoan Paul Kalina, one of the creators of the three-person show that has been extended through May 25.
"We're trying to bring clowning back to what it was traditionally known for. We explore social issues, parody authority figures and the establishment and expose insecurities or even our own shortcomings," says Kalina.
And, yes, the show relies less on the prose of a certain Bard than it does on comic talent and improvisation skills.
"The show's about three clowns trying to perform 'Macbeth.' Of course, they fail. As they struggle to get through the piece, they divide and separate."
Kalina, 33, says the trio spends the first few moments of stage time feeling out the audience, then they craft an evening's worth of entertainment around the vibe they pick up. At the end of the night, you haven't seen "Macbeth" so much as witnessed an exploration of its themes of power, greed and destruction. Shakespeare may be turning in his grave, but audiences can't seem to get enough.
"We're not claiming to do Shakespeare. We're doing '500 Clown Macbeth.' It's our version, not a parody of the Bard. We take what he gave us and use it to explore issues of today," says Kalina.
Kalina was studying at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Comedy in 1997 when he reluctantly enrolled in a required clown class that changed his career outlook. "This is the last thing I thought I would ever do. My experience was with the big, garish birthday clowns and the circus clowns who are always in your face. As I studied clowning as an art form, it opened me up and allowed me to access emotions as an actor through my clown training."
Kalina moved back to Chicago in 1999, just in time to get involved with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. The outreach program brings Kalina and other clowns into children's wards at least four times a week. It isn't all about laughter, however.
"We're there to empower the children. A hospital is an environment where they have no say. When we come into the room, they dictate what we do."
Children can include sharing jokes or even throwing a tantrum. Kalina says it's all therapeutic.
"If you can find a way for a child to express what they're feeling- -even if it's anger or frustration--it's cathartic and moves easily into laughter," Kalina says.
Kalina co-conceived "500 Clown Macbeth" with another CCU clown, Adrian Danzig, and Kalina says his time spent in children's wards continues to move and motivate him as an artist.
"I've come out of rooms having had some of the most amazing experiences. Just to see the form of pure joy on a child's face or the parents' strength and unconditional love. I'm really lucky to be doing this work." Misha Davenport, Chicago Sun-Times May 12, 2002

?Four hundred and ninety-seven of the clowns promised by the "500 Clown Macbeth," the punkishly arrogant new piece of physical comedy at the Chopin Theatre, did not show up the other night. But the three tartan-infested fools who tried to deconstruct the Scottish tragedy in their stead have forged a singularly inventive, highly amusing and entirely dangerous off-Loop show.
No word in the theater suffers from hyperbola more than "risk." Most performance artists worth their salt like to claim that they have at least something on the line, preferably at all times. But in reality, of course, the theater usually functions within a pre- planned world.
That's avowedly not the case here. Throughout this jaw-dropping, 75-minute show, one fears for the health of performers who are climbing about a rickety scaffold-filled set with no apparent safety devices.
The team of Adrian Danzig, Paul Kalina and Molly Brennan form a good chunk of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital. If they're not careful over the next few weeks at the Chopin, they might be wearing red noses as they lie in traction, limbs a-flailing. In their mission statement, 500 Clowns (which is what they call themselves) say they want to create theater that catapults performers into extreme physical and emotional risk. The idea is to change the role of the audience member from passive to active observer.
Well, mission accomplished, clowns. Indeed, that mission would probably have been accomplished perfectly well without Danzig attaching scores of firecrackers to his chest and then actually setting them on fire, engendering a sympathetic stomachache in at least one observer.
And if that sounds like it would make you jump, you should see what happens when Brennan, an impish grin on her scrunched-up face as she defies theatrical lore, stands in the middle of the stage and screams "Macbeth."
The premise here is that these three clowns are trying to perform the Scottish play, without really knowing what they are doing and with a variety of circumstances conspiring against them, including witches' cauldrons with a tendency to explode.
Their dark and (be warned) entirely adult style of clowning is decidedly Chicago-style -- if that phrase can be used to imply a total absence of polish, charm, shtick, beauty and whimsy. All three of these performers have been hanging around the off-Loop world for some years, and they've deftly honed their craft and their angst- filled attitudes.
In one hysterical sequence, the poker-faced clowns spew red paint at one another in a thinly veiled attack on the tropes of the Blue Man Group. Heck, this bizarre, pitch-black show makes those big- budget cobalt gents look like "Cats" in terms of mainstream appeal.? Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune May 1, 2002

?CLOWNING AROUND: A raucous theater piece that destroys and reconstructs Shakespeare's bloody tragedy "Macbeth" returns to the Chopin Theatre on the Near West Side beginning tonight. 500 Clown Macbeth involves three clowns who descend on a stage to perform Shakespeare's play. An element of competition leads the jokesters to fight for the title role, and in the process they destroy the text, the set and eventually each other. The show runs through May 11 and is produced by Chicago-based theater company 500 Clown.? Chicago Sun-Times, Apr 19, 2002