The Red Bastard is exactly what his name implies: a sneering, abrasive, crimson-suited anti-hero who gets off on pushing buttons.
“He’s a dangerous seductive comedy monster from the collective unconscious that bounces around in everybody’s head,” says star and creator Eric Davis, in character as his alter ego. “A representation of the id. I’m the emptiness at the edge of your sleepless nights. A gardener of your fears.”
For about a decade, Davis—a clown and LA-based Cirque performer—has built up the Red Bastard’s reputation for mischief at fringe festivals across the world, pushing audiences out of their comfort zones with his interpersonal one-man show. Now it’s Vegas’ turn.
Davis brings The Red Bastard to Downtown’s Art Square Theatre for a pair of midnight performances. Intimate and interactive, the show features Davis in a globular red bodysuit and face paint worthy of any Strip show, but the content is far from the polite spectacle you expect to experience on Vegas’ Cirque stages.
Calendar
- The Red Bastard
- April 16 & 17, doors at 11:30 p.m., $20.
- Art Square Theatre, 483-8844.
The show is purposefully small-scale and in your face; a typical evening with the Red Bastard might find him accosting the crowd with a megaphone or forcing someone to sing into his mouth, all accompanied by his character’s signature frenetic gestures and puckish grin.
“The audience is my partner,” he explains. “It’s about triggering emotional reactions and interpersonal connections in a meaningful way.”
Davis is bringing The Red Bastard to Vegas in part to showcase his work for his fellow performers and Cirque brethren—the show is heading to Scotland’s famed Edinburgh Festival this August—but he stresses that the show is not intended solely for the theater community. “It’s really for anyone—people in the suburbs, people who want a little taste of something wild and want to be opened up a little bit,” Davis says. “It’s definitely not for children. And it’s not for people who are drunk. You’ll probably be very scared if you’re drunk.”
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