international clown research project

In October 2007 the International Clown Research Project got under way. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as a Creative Fellowship at Central School of Speech and Drama (London University), with the Escola de Clown de Barcelona as the Project Partner. This is a three-year investigation into clown and clown teaching, involving workshops, performances and presentations in London, Barcelona and elsewhere.

The research is practical, but also produces tangible documentation in the form of videos, images and articles and other writings.....For the latest articles, pLease consult the ClownBlog ...

full index of articles

Welcome to ClownBlog
International Clown Research Project
Draft Notes on Contemporary Clown Research, October-December 2007
The Phenomenology of Clown
The International Clown Project
The Dramaturgy of Clown or “What do clowns do?”
An Encyclopaedia of Clown
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 1, 8/10/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 2, 15/10/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 3, 22/10/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 4, 29/10/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 5, 5/11/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 6, 12/11/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 7, 19/11/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 8, 26/11/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 9, 3/12/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, No. 10, 10/12/09
Clown Workshops: how do they work?
Clown Workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe, 16/12/09
Clown Research Workshop, Year 3, Week 11, 12-15/01/10

Live Clown TV
Clown Stamps
Circus Architecture
Clown Quotations

Review: Licedei, The Family
Review: La Cleta i la Mandarina
Review: Pierre Pilatte, “Dans ma philosophie”
Review: El Pallasso i el Führer
Review: Serious Play

Clowning By Numbers

The International Clown Project brings classic numbers back to life, combining the best of tradition with contemporary clowning. Clowning by Numbers is a selection of mini-dramas from the golden age of clowning a century ago, rare masterpieces of comedy seldom seen today.

Clowns… spontaneous yet disciplined… original yet familiar… subtle yet grotesque… anarchic yet formulaic… hilarious yet heart-rending… Whether you want your clowns to be oafish buffoons or refined artists, then this is a show for you…

The Contemporary Clown
Application to AHRC Fellowship Scheme, April 2007
This project begins by asking an age-old question in a new context. The question concerns how an actor is to be convincing. It has vexed and provoked actor training since at least Stanislavsky, and has been around since at least Diderot. The new context is that of clown training and performance. While the celebrated actor-trainer, Jacques Lecoq, was partly concerned with the same question, the project planned here will take the investigation into new territory and aim to produce recommendations for the clown actor of the future. The overarching question, then, is: How is a clown convincing? (continue reading...)

Failure
Draft Documentation, October-December 2007

In this introduction I shall give an overview of the organisation of the project and its first term, as well as discussing some of the issues that have arisen, particularly in relation to the legacy of Lecoq. I then go on to describe the workshops in detail.  Lastly, I give a summary of the work that is imminent. The project got under way unofficially in September through canvassing for participants. (continue reading...)

Jon Davison interviewed by Demian Reis, PhD clown student
June 2008

parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Complete interview (audio only)

Improvisation and Clown
Post-Performance Discussion, July 2008

The introduction to a discussion, led by Chris Johnston, between audience and improvisers, held after "Present and Incorrect", a showing of a range of improvised performance, at Chisenhale Dance.

The Phenomenology of Clown
Conference Paper, September 2008

I am a research fellow at CSSD, funded for three years by the AHRC to research the contemporary clown. I would like to take this opportunity to present some of the principle findings so far, one year into this project... ...By the end of this year I have arrived at a vision (or rather, a feeling) of clown that is highly personal, in the sense that it depends on seeing (or rather, on feeling) things at a personal level. This “what clown feels like” is what, in retrospect, I have spent the last year searching for. We might call this “the phenomenology of clown”.

What does it feel like to clown? What does it depend on?  A loss of ego? An acceptance of failure? High self-esteem? Contradictory behaviour? A sense of difference? Feeling like when you fall in love? This is what we could call “being clown”, and is what I have also attempted to demonstrate in my new solo performance, “from jontxu…to be”.  In this performance I set myself the task of simply being with the chair, rather than looking to improvise actions that might follow clown rules. My focus was thus on feeling what it’s like to be clown. I found that it is entirely possible to entertain an audience in this manner, at least for ten minutes. (continue reading...)

Feeling
Draft Documentation, January-September 2008
..coming soon...

reviews

How can we talk about clown? These reviews of performances are intended to introduce into the world of performance criticism some criteria based on clown. So they mainly prioritise clown matters over and above general performance issues, my aim being to contribute to the quality of clowning and clown debate generally. For full texts, please go to the ClownBlog

Serious Play
(written by Louise Peacock, Intellect Books 2009)
As a specialist in the field of clown (as a practitioner and an academic), I was excited when I recently learned of this book's imminent publication. There are so few rigorously written studies of clown that I was ready to welcome any contributions to the serious study of this complex art form. Having read the book, I am astounded and appalled that such a shoddy piece of work could get past the publisher's checks... (continue reading)

El Pallasso i el Führer
(2007, directed by Eduard Cortés)
I confess to only having seen a little less than an hour of this film. Firstly, I chanced upon it on TV last night, so missed the beginning, and secondly, tedium got the better of me and I switched off before it finished dragging itself towards the end. In my view, that doesn’t disqualify me from reviewing the film, however... (continue reading)

Pierre Pilatte, “Dans ma philosophie”
(Antic Teatre, Barcelona, 31st January 2009)
Like all great absurdists, Pierre Pilatte’s starting point is the mundane, that most ordinary kind of reality that we encounter in semi-private every day of our lives, and that seems to be the basis for our inner worlds, and hence our contact with the outer world of objects and the people that surround us. Pilatte is an expert exponent of what we might call “clown du quotidien”... (continue reading)

La Cleta i la Mandarina
(Teatre Riereta, Barcelona, 2nd March 2009)
This is a little gem of a kids’ show that manages to bring together some lovely clowning and some very neat magic. Magicians have a tendency to be clever folk, as the skill of misdirecting the audience’s attention is usually allied to a well-developed intellect. And that doesn’t bode well for clowning, which as we all know relies on a well-developed stupidity. However, La Cleta achieves a marvellous unification of her two brain hemishperes, remaining utterly silly whilst completely foxing her audience... (continue reading)

Licedei, "The Family" (Semianyki)
(Hackney Empire, London, 27th September 2008)
Licedei are still notable for being a company that has a relatively large number of clowns onstage, compared with most exponents of clowning. “The Family” is performed by 6 performers. I have two main problems with this, despite enjoying the show immensely. The first problem is that it is rare that clowns can remain being clowns in the company of so many... (continue reading)

other research

Clown Theory

In 2006 at the Escola de Clown de Barcelona we began developing a course of studies entitled "Clown Theory, Analysis and History", forming an integral part of the full-time course, and also open to outside students to attend. As far as I know, it is the only programme of its kind in the world.

Clown theory falls into several distinct areas:

Firstly, there is the thought that we may address to performing as clowns, whether our own or others' work. This talks about how clown works, what criteria we can judge clown performance by, and so on. There are many overlaps with dramatic theory, critical theory and performance theory here, but there are many criteria unique to clown. This is a field that remains relatively unmapped until now.

Secondly, there is the social role and function of clowning. This covers the role of clown doctors, clown humanitarian expeditions. Underlying this sociology of clowning is the social history of the art, which investigates the postion of clowning across periods and cultures.

Thirdly, there is the question of clown philosophy. Many are taking up clown thought or the clown mind as a way of addressing situations in other fields. In fact, the possibilities here are endless. At ECB we have had a biology teacher researching the clown-teacher. This new kind of teacher would not appear to be clownish, but to be informed by the criteria of the clown mind. The use of play in the corporate world is now well-known, but clowning goes several steps further, and some make claims that it is capable of solving the most pressing questions of all: water shortage, war, religious collapse, etc. The World Parliament of Clowns has set its sights on altering the mindset of our politicians.

I have always mixed performing, rehearsing, teaching, researching and living without worrying much about the frontiers between them, but began to formalise my research by taking an MA Practice as Research at Kent University in 2006. The thesis can be found here:

"Clown Prosthetics and Amputations"
for pdf version: Clown Prosthetics and Amputations.pdf

Aside from my present research into clown teaching, I am interested in the following fields: Naturalism and Supernaturalism; Clown History. I am also preparing to edit a Clown Reader, my own book entitled "Clown Theory", and a translation into English of Tristan Rémy's "Les Clowns"