You either have it or you don’t. That is what we are led to believe. Certain actors have the innate ability to compel without words, projecting an aura that makes an audience hold its breath.

What image does the term ‘buffoon’ conjure for you? Is it a gormless, upper class ponce with very little intelligence? Is it our ludicrous leaders spouting absurdities and displaying ridiculous behaviour? It’s interesting how the word has changed its meaning over the years …

Bouffon is in a league of it’s own; bouffon creates a fake grotesquery: characters that are so outrageously bizarre that they can’t relate to anything or anyone real. No one is offended because these absurdly contorted actors do not bear any immediate semblance to any human that we recognise;