A riotously surreal concoction of clowning, kitsch and nonsense is heading to Widnes this March as The Farucchio Peru Show comes to the town’s historic Studio venue.
Farucchio Peru is the creation of Leebo Luby, a member of Liverpool-based, international theatre company Teatro Pomodoro, who most recently toured Cabaret From The Shadows across the U.K. and Europe. Luby describes the character as ‘a one-man army of all-round entertainment extravaganza…or a screwball idiot with ridiculous delusions of international stardom. Or perhaps both! This is his show. You be the judge.’ An alumni of Liverpool’s celebrated Hope Street Ltd, Luby trained with the esteemed teacher Philippe Gaulier before co-founding the clown company Man With A Porpoise, whose production Untitled Shakespeare tickled audiences at Prague Fringe 2014, Threshold Festival 2015 and was a London Sketch Fest Finalist.
Luby later created the solo persona “Farucchio Peru” on the Conflux International Residency (Glasgow) in 2014, where he was mentored by performer-director Al Seed, as well as Liverpool’s Elinor Randle (Artistic Director of Tmesis Theatre and Physical Fest). As part of the residency, Luby was selected to perform a short piece at Surge Festival as part of the official programme of The Glasgow Commonwealth Games, as well as the Differenti Sensazioni Festival in Italy.
Support from Arts Council England later enabled Luby to work with Spymonkey’s Aitor Basauri to develop his first full length solo show. With additional support from Tmesis Theatre, he was able to premiere the show at Physical Fest 2015. Luby also co-founded Teatro Pomodoro in Liverpool, who went on to win the Nordic Fringe Network Theatre award at Brighton Fringe 2017. The Widnes venue for Luby’s latest show has its own enigmatic and storied history. Originally built 140 years ago as Lacey Street Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, the building was saved from demolition in 2009 thanks to an incredible fundraising campaign from local residents. Now with Big Lottery funding behind it, The Studio continues to host a whole range of multi-arts performances and events.
“I’m really excited to bring my solo show to The Studio, Widnes” says Luby. “When I was here last year with Teatro Pomodoro and Cabaret From The Shadows, the audience were really up for it and there were some moments that were the highlight of that tour. With The Farucchio Peru Show people will see something totally absurd and funny, with the joke very often being on Mr. Peru (whether he realises it or not), and hopefully they will laugh in and out of their seats.”
This hilarious one-man show comes to The Studio in Widnes on Wednesday 13th March and is directed by Aitor Basauri with support from Arts Council England. Additional music and sound design comes from Barry Han and set and costume design is by Carmen Arqelladas.
Tickets for The Farucchio Peru Show on Wednesday 13th March at The Studio in Widnes are priced at £5 and available to purchase now.