Clowning ‘more popular than ever’ as Brits flip to japesters to deal with demanding lives

Given the state of the world at the moment, is it any wonder clowns are more popular than ever? They’re still tapping into the same ancient traditions, but there’s hardly a red nose in sight.

That doesn’t make them any less ridiculous, as visitors to this month’s London Clown Festival will find out. Here Meg Jorsh hears from the performers about life as a professional fool…

If you close your eyes and imagine a clown, they won’t look a thing like Dan Lees. That’s not to say he doesn’t look funny. Yellow can be a tough colour to pull off, no matter how well-cut your suit.

But Dan isn’t just a clown – he’s something of an authority on the subject. The founder of the London Clown Festival, he also teaches clowning and physical theatre all over the world.

“Clowning is becoming more and more popular at the moment,” he says. “A lot of comedians are moving into it.” And looking at the courses on Dan’s website, they seem to be selling out well in advance.

He’s performing at the festival himself, as part of a musical double act with multi-instrumentalist Tom Penn. Their extremely silly show, called The Sonic Joy Orchestra, will be at London’s Soho Theatre on June 4.

He adds: “The difference between clowning and, say, stand-up comedy is that in stand-up, the audience laughs at the joke. Whereas the clown is the joke.

“It’s performers that don’t mind being ridiculous – being an idiot, and allowing the audience to laugh at them.”

It’s an idea that’s been around thousands of years. In Ancient Greece, clowns were bald-headed, padded buffoons who took the mickey out of characters in plays, sometimes pelting the audience with nuts.

The medieval courts had their jesters, while the Harlequin, in his diamond-patterned costume, emerged from 16 ^th century Italy. It wasn’t until the 1800s that we saw the first true circus clowns, courtesy of actor and comedian Joseph Grimaldi.

At the festival, performer Ella the Great comes the closest to Grimaldi’s tradition. Her character, Richard Melanin III, sports a rosy nose and cheeks, along with a luxurious Victorian-style box beard.

She says: “He’s a silent clown, based in traditional circus clowning. So it’s very physical, it’s playful, it relies on the foundation of magic which is belief. The most important thing is the conversation with the audience.”

Ella, from Hammersmith, west London, has been fascinated by clowns since she was just three years old. She adds: “I think if you say ‘clown’ now, it’s a lot broader and more open than what previously might have come to mind.”

That’s especially obvious when meeting Maya Ricote. She doesn’t look at all like a traditional clown, but given her massive, prosthetic boobs and bum, she certainly makes a visual statement. A former telenovela actress, she ramps up the drama on stage as an unhinged starlet, recently unfrozen from cryogenic storage.

Meanwhile, Piotr Sikora plays a Napoleonic soldier fighting his way through an icy landscape. The comedian, from Poland, is blunt when it comes to what drew him to clowning.

“Depression,” he says. “It started from being very, very severely depressed. I don’t think clowning itself can solve everything, but it can be very helpful.”

Piotr’s act involves a lot of audience participation, with one lucky – or unlucky – spectator even dragged on stage to necks several shots of vodka.

“It’s awakening your inner playfulness,” he adds. “For me to actually comprehend what it means to be truly playful – that was a huge process.”

Rachael Dobbie, a producer, has her own thoughts on the current surge of interest in clowning. She is taking several acts to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including japester Lawrence Dodd and his show This Can’t Be It.

“I think it’s because it’s needed now,” she says. “The world is a really stressful place. “One of the primary things in clowning is being authentic, showing people who you are and being fine with that. And I think it gives people a kind of permission to do the same.”

Now in its 10 ^th year, the London Clown Festival will unleash a host of up-and-coming acts on the unsuspecting capital. But according to producer Amee Smith, we may already be more familiar with clowning than we realise.

She says: “The festival was founded with the aim of expanding the general perception of clowning, because it’s often quite narrow. That’s not to say that circus clowning isn’t a very valid art form in itself, but there’s a lot more to it than people know.

“I think most people are familiar with Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean. Sacha Baron Cohen was a clown. There’s no one style of clown performance and the performers that you’ll see are very different.”

• The London Clown Festival is taking place at the Soho Theatre, central London, and Jacksons Lane, north London, until June 13. Head to www.londonclownfest.online for more information.

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