FRINGE Festival : ‘SCREAM, CLOWN’--A TRULY ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Charles Schneider’s “Scream, Clown, Scream!!” takes the grand out of Grand Guignol. Call it Green Guignol--it’s about as scary and not nearly as funny as something a bunch of kids might stage in a garage on Halloween.

The effects are that bad. Because of the inept lighting, some of the goriest details are virtually hidden. The sound track is scratchy; the set is shaky (part of it fell over during the final scene on opening night, and throughout the show I could see backstage through a hole between two flats). Pacing is non-existent. A dance by a woman named Perpetua seems perpetual--and out of place. Every performer gropes for direction.

Despite the name of Schneider’s group (Theatre du Grand Guignol), this show has nothing to do with 19th-Century France. It’s set in a sleazy carnival in Wisconsin, recently enough to use rock ‘n’ roll and references to “hippies.”

One performance remains: tonight at 9 (Warning: Opening night started half an hour late) at Variety Arts Center, 3rd floor, 940 S. Figueroa St. Tickets: $10; (213) 488-1456.