Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy
Rebel Clowning is an embodied practice that draws on diverse elements: clowning, bouffon, physical theatre, dance and choreography and street performance. Participants develop ensemble working, collaborative movement and collective devising skills leading to research and experimentation in public space. The journey from inside to outside, and vice versa, explores the potential of rebel clowning to transform the performer, people, place and power. Our process aims to elevate our work beyond the aesthetic and spectacle into more complex, effective and beautiful forms of creative action that address the political, societal and environmental issues of our time.
Clowns in the HamburgerBahnhof Museum, Berlin (2014)
Key elements we explore
Clowning basics
Rebel Clown Training Methodologies
Activist Clown Tools & Techniques
Choreographies of Protest
Politics of Public Space
Clowns & Power
Clowning as Creative Activism
Who is it for?
Clowns, activists, theatre practitioners, circus and physical performers, dancers, musicians, visual artists, street performers and
enthusiasts! Anyone interested in exploring new forms of activism or expanding their understanding of clowning as a form of
political expression. And anyone who wants to use humour and laughter to change the world.
(….it’s for you!)
Our starting points - history & context - CIRCA (2003 - 2006)
The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA for short) was a form of non-violent direct action for
resistance that aimed to subvert the binary relationships between protester and police, activist and authority
whilst radically transforming public and protest spaces. It was also a way for activists to lighten up, have fun
and to refind the energy to continue the long journeys of actions and activism that they were passionate
about. It was magical and worked a kind of magic…for a time. UK and international rebel clown gaggles were
formed and met in Scotland at the G8 summit conference.
After the summit rebel clown gaggles formed all over the world and continued to explore clowning for
protest and activism. Rebel clowns in San Diego formed the Boredom Patrol to counteract and parody the
Minutemen patrols along the US/Mexican border. While in Finland, rebel clowns worked against racist anti-
migrant citizen patrols.
However, the movement was of its time and most gaggles fizzled out and continued their activism in other
and new ways. Since that time many of us have worked, performed and taught in different ways, using
different methods and methodologies within clowning, in the theatre and on the streets. Some for activist
purposes, some not.
Recent explorations between clowning + activism: a trickster laboratory (2021)
In 2021 two of the Rebel Clown Army founders, Jay Jordan and Hilary Ramsden, joined Robyn
Hambrook in revisiting the Rebel Clown Army - its tactics & strategies, philosophies & actions –
as a way of finding innovativeways for current clowning to address contemporary issues such as racism, climate change and
global power struggles. In September 2021 they convened a Trickster Lab in Bristol, UK and invited clowns, activists, artists
and performers to join us in playful experiments and explorations of clowning, fooling and trickstering around issues of social
injustice. This was followed by a second Trickster Lab in Glasgow where new methodologies for direct action were tested at the
COP26 climate summit.
Clown Lab (2022)
Hilary, Robyn and colleague Jon Davison received funding from i-Portunus Houses for further research in February 2022. They met in Athens to explore:
decolonising European Clowning;
Trickster Traditions;
and Disturbing Public Space.
As well as studio research they ran public workshops, inviting local performers and clowns to work quickly and using only few
props and costumes, to find new ways and actions for clowning on the streets (see https://clowneggsodus.blogspot.com/)
This resulted in, amongst other discoveries, a new method which we call Qwik-Qwik-Slow. It involves working quickly and without judgement and with only short reflections to create actions in public space, one after another. After several excursions we take a longer time to reflect on those actions and then discuss, review and make changes before venturing out into public space once again.
Clown Congress (2022)
Inspired by the success of these explorations and keen to bring more people into the conversations Hilary, Robyn and Jon
organised the Clown Congress in Bristol, UK in September 2022. Over 4 days, 50 clowns from across the UK &
Europe gathered to discuss, play, move, experiment and explore themes of Power & Authority, Anti-racism & Decolonisation, and
the Climate Crisis through clown methodologies and practice (see https://clowncongress.blogspot.com )
Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (NRCA) (2023)
In April 2023 Robyn and Hilary facilitated the first NRCA workshop with Activists and Clowns in Sweden. Other workshops in Berlin and Brussels followed over the next 2 years.
