Comedian Thom Tuck on Aging into a Role…One Decade at a Time

Thom Tuck returns to the Fringe this year with Scaramouche Jones for the third time - 20 years after first performing it fresh out of university. Set on the eve of the millennium, the one-man play follows a 100-year-old clown recounting a life of strange beauty and quiet trauma, peeling back the seven masks he’s worn for decades. Scaramouche Jones is rich, poetic, and haunting - offering both theatrical intensity and moments of absurdity. In this interview, Tuck talks about the curious decision to revisit the same role every ten years until, eventually, he becomes the age of the character himself, or dies. 

You first performed Scaramouche Jones just weeks after graduating university in 2005, then again in 2015. What drew you to the role then and what draws you back now, 20 years later?

The Fringe run in 2005 was just after finishing my philosophy degree, but I was cast in the role by the director Charlotte Jarvis (now an acclaimed artist) during the first term of my final year. At the time I was very taken with the idea of performing as a clown, given that I was reasonably sure I wanted to pursue a career in comedy. Twenty years later, I find it a little easier to relate to Scaramouche’s aches and pains…

Can you tell us a bit about the concept of the show and how you first came up with it?

I presume you mean the concept of remounting the show every ten years. That idea struck me coming up to the tenth anniversary of the first production. I dug out my old script and had a read and found more in the text than I remembered. It’s such a rich, lyrical piece of work that Justin Butcher wrote. So back came the clown.

This is now your third time performing Scaramouche Jones, with plans to return to it every decade. How has your approach changed each time?

I like to think that I am adding layers of nuance and variety to the work and that I am ten years more skilled, both as an actor and as a clown. This time a lot of my focus has been upon melding the two disciplines. Hopefully there’s bits of clowning the whole way through that will help lighten some of the heavier bits. And maybe I’ll get one of those flowers that squirts you.

Do you see this as a theatrical experiment - one actor growing old with one role - or something more personal?

I don’t know why it can’t be both! As I approach the age of the character, my experience is only going to increase: the accumulated hours of standing onstage with the express purpose of eliciting laughter add up. I must be up to Malcolm Gladwell’s genius threshold by now… And the other thing is trying to add layers of my life into the show… the shoes and trousers are both actually things I have worn. And before the show every day, I’m going to be performing outside the venue, clowning with objects that I own - part as a warm-up and part to try and drum up trade.

What are the biggest technical or emotional challenges of performing a one-man show of this intensity?

The technical challenge is of course, the feat of memory. It’s seventy five minutes of unrelenting talking, with magnificently florid, poetic language. Then there’s the delineation of characters: Scaramouche plays a dozen or so of the people in his life and you’ve got to make them distinct… how many Italians have you played in the same play? Emotionally, it isn’t as hard, as the show leads through the difficult bits to get to a state of catharsis… but, y’know… funny. And taking the bow at the end recharges you no end.

What do you hope to take from this Edinburgh Fringe specifically?

I would like as many people to see the show as possible. Simple. Then we put the red nose away for another decade.

Thom Tuck is taking ‘Scaramouche Jones’ to the Edinburgh Fringe this August. For tickets and more information, visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/scaramouche-jones