Two hapless undersea explorers journey across land, sea, air and the fourth wall in The Submarine Show, an absurdist clown piece created and performed by Jaron Hollander and Slater Penney. Dressed nearly identically in nautical stripes and thick spectacles, they find themselves stranded on an island that time forgot after their submarine mission goes awry. Their adept physical comedy, ranging from gymnastics to transformation into large birds—it sort of makes sense in context—is matched by their impressive ability to create sounds, including undersea tones, mechanical noise, exotic animal calls and much more. (Few coherent words are spoken.) Hollander and Penney drag the audience down into their surreal explorations with them; not a single spectator went ignored by the pair at my performance, and several had personal effects rifled through or snatched. The performers plumb greater comedic depths on land than at sea; the earlier segments in the briny deep feel every bit like the setup that they are and leave the audience waiting for the pair to plunge into greater comedy. When they finally do, Slater and Penney’s silly expedition finds some fine comedic treasure.—Austin Ruffer
Click here for full Time Out New York coverage of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.