Piip and Tuut at Concert

Estonian clowns Piip and Tuut have landed in Melbourne to brighten your school holidays for Melbourne Comedy Festival, Genevieve Spiteri reviews.

Welcome to Piip and Tuut at Concert! Two impatient janitors who can’t seem to sit still are here to entertain and delight your young ones this school holidays as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  

I had the absolute privilege of attending the "World-Famous known only in Estonia" clown duo Piip and Tuut’s Melbourne debut performance on Friday. Playing for a limited time at ACMI's Gandel Lab in Federation Square, the children's entertainers specialise in physical comedy, acrobatics and simple misunderstandings that children find absolutely hilarious. 

(Image: Haide Männamäe and Toomas Tross)

The duo consists of married couple Haide Männamäe and Toomas Tross, who have been performing together as clowns since 1998. Piip and Tuut are comedic characters who have been performing since 2008 and are very successful in their home country of  Estonia, where they even have their own theatre, the Piip ja Tuut Theatre. 

(Image: Haide Männamäe and Toomas Tross)

The premise of Piip and Tuut at Concert is that the duo are janitors and have come to watch a concert. However, through various antics of switching seats, Tuut's suitcase of tricks ends up on the stage, so Piip and Tuut end up performing a Concert. While a very simple concept, it is humorous and easy to understand, especially for young kids and is used as an avenue to show off many tricks and jokes. 

The Gandel Lab is the perfect venue for this performance, as it is quite small but is quite intimate, which helps the kids get used to the clowns and get comfortable with them, which helps them enjoy the performance more. 

(Image: Haide Männamäe and Toomas Tross)

The children in the audience of the performance I attended were enraptured with the duo, laughing hysterically at their jokes and were completely engaged. All of them put their hand up to participate when promoted to by the performers, and were so excited 

when they were invited on the stage. It is easy to see how this duo is quite popular back home, as they connect with their child audience very well, relating to their sense of humour and wonder for physical feats, especially with their acrobatic skills.  

There were also quite a few adults in the theatre, and they had almost as much fun as the kids! There’s something about repeated physical comedy that makes us laugh, and it does not seem to go away when we get older. There is one point in the show where the clowns ask for an adult volunteer, I did and was brought almost to tears by the interaction I then had with Tuut and his coat. I won’t spoil it here, but their crowd work is well-developed, something they have clearly worked on for many years.  

(Image: Haide Männamäe and Toomas Tross)

There are many shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year aimed at families with children, and with it being the school holidays, it is the perfect time to introduce kids to comedy shows. Other fun events occurring in the next two weeks include Bubble Show in Space, Circus Oz's Here, There and Everywhere, and Comedy Club for Kids and are generally much cheaper than other MICF shows being promoted. 

I would highly recommend Piip and Tuut at Concert if you have young kids to entertain these holidays, and are looking for some good, scripted comedy that you will enjoy as well!