A slim, foreign would-be singer with slicked-back hair does his rendition of the old French classic: Ne me quitte pas – "Don’t Leave Me". As he sings, the spot-light moves, leaving him in the dark. He hurries frantically, time and again, trying to remain in the light. To a stage performer, losing the spotlight is tantamount to losing one’s life.

Here our resident clown is a torch singer, lip-synching the Jacques Brel ballad "Ne me quitte pas" while trying to stay in the range of a very slippery spotlight. His ruses become more elaborate, more desperate, crescendoing to a lovely capper: that the spotlight has been controlled, "Duck Amuck"-style, by his female assistant clown. An interlude of beautifully calibrated silliness!