Clown Soup
6 week blocks of Clown Play Sessions

Get playful and connected with these delightful and delicious 6 week block of Clown Soup.

Join Robyn Hambrook (The Bristol Clown School, The Online Clown Academy, Bristol Rebel Clowns), Holly Meechan (Biscuit Barrel, Join the Dots, Bish Bosh Bash), Hester Welch (Lost Cabaret Bristol, Spilt Ink, Wayang Kitchen) and friends for your joyous weekly play sessions for clowns, actors, circus artists, improvisers and the curious.

Each week we’ll be diving into the playful world of clowning where anything is possible, from the ridiculous to the tragic, from anarchy to ecstasy.

We’ll explore the key principles of clowning including complicity, generosity, failure, success, acceptance and play!

Expect a smorgasbord of games, improvisations, laughter and connection to a lovely clown community.

These workshop are designed for participants at any stage in their clown journey and we will work both individually and in groups.

Please wear comfortable clothes, bring a bottle of water and be ready to be physically active.

★ "Robyn’s Clown Soup helps me challenge myself in a safe and enjoyable space. She’s intuitive, supportive and allows me to take risks that expand my thinking and being in everyday situations. I’d highly recommend her classes for everyone who wants a fresh look at themselves."
Participant, 'Clown Soup' Weekly Clown Classes

★ "Thank you so much. Your clown coaching is very helpful because it is honest and direct. I thought the weekend was great and I am inspired to wear a red nose again."
Participant, 'The Activist Clown Weekend'

★"We had a blast with Holly at Clown Soup. She's a cracker!"
Participant, 'Clown Soup' Weekly Clown Classes

★ “Holly’s super energetic and really, really, really fun!”
Participant, 'Clown Soup' Weekly Clown Classes

★ “Robyn facilitated magic to happen in me & my heart opened to the clown of love & compassion, & empathy & fun. Very grateful to Robyn for opening a portal to my heartfelt world. “
Participant, 'Clown Soup' Weekly Clown Classes

How it works

JANUARY/FEBRUARY BLOCK
Tuesdays
14, 21, 28 January, 4, 11, 18 February
6.45pm – 9pm
St Werburghs Community Centre, BS2 9TJ

SPRING CLASSES
Tuesdays
25 February, 4, 11, 18, 25 March & 1 April
6.45 - 9pm
St Werburghs Community Centre, BS2 9TJ

APRIL/MAY BLOCK
Tuesdays
8, 15, 22, 29 April, 6, 13 May
6.45pm – 9pm
St Werburghs Community Centre, BS2 9TJ

SUMMER CLASSES
Tuesdays
20, 27 May, 3, 10, 17, 24 June
6.45 - 9pm
St Werburghs Community Centre, BS2 9TJ

Cost:
6 weeks - £85 - £120 sliding scale - pay what you can afford
Drop in per 2 hour session - £16 - £20 sliding scale

EARLYBIRD DEALS – 6 sessions for just £70
For January/February block - pay by 20 December
For Spring block - pay by 4 February
For April/May block - pay by 18 March
For Summer block - pay by 29 April

SPECIAL DEAL - any two blocks (12 sessions) for £130

These courses tend to sell out, so booking early is advised.

Book your place

Meet the Clown Soup Facilitators

Robyn Hambrook

Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher, performer and founder of the Bristol Clown School. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins, Phillip Gaulier, Carlo Jacucci and John Wright.

Over the past five years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns, in research residencies as well as international collaborations including Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US).
During the pandemic in 2020, Robyn set up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit and developed a series of Zoom Clown Courses.
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Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work. Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era).

Holly Meechan

Holly is a Bristolian performer, theatre-maker, director and facilitator. She has been running workshops for over twenty years for a wide variety of groups in community, educational and corporate settings; working for companies including Bristol Old Vic, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Shakespeare Schools Foundation, Freshwater Theatre, Fifth Word and her own company Join the Dots. As a practitioner her specialist areas of interest are devised theatre, immersive and interactive performance, improvisation, clowning and puppetry. 

Since gaining a degree in theatre at Exeter University she has further trained in comedy improv with The Free Association and Monkey Toast; in Forum Theatre with Adrian Jackson; and she has studied clown with many teachers including Phillipe Gaulier, Aitor Basuri, Peta Lily, Holly Stoppit, Bim Mason and Dr Brown. She performs regularly on stage with London based improv team Rhinoceros and in Bristol Improv Theatre’s flagship show The Bish Bosh Bash. She was a performer/writer for Release the Clowns comedy sketch podcast and is performer/director for sketch group Biscuit Barrel. Other performance credits include multiple shows for Gingerline, Closer Each Day, and Bim Mason’s Big Heads. You can occasionally see her on the comedy and cabaret circuit performing solo character and clown bits and Holly has also recently started working as a Giggle Doctor for Theodora children's charity.

As a facilitator Holly aims to create safe spaces for exciting, playful shared experiences where she encourages people to explore their creativity, and connect with each other. She is also very serious about silliness!

Hester Welch

Hester is an International Theatre Maker/Deviser, Director, Performer, Teacher, Producer, Community Arts Facilitator and Clown. Play is at the heart of her work. She devises performances that are socially engaged, highly visual, physical, sensory, interactive and often immersive. Things involving collaboration and silliness bring her joy. She likes engaging audiences who might, at first, not think it's for them as well as bringing more playfulness into non performance spaces.

She has directed and taught actors, artists, students, teachers, and community groups in the UK, India, Malaysia, China, France, Italy and Indonesia. Trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier (France), Goldsmiths (University of London, UK), Chekhov Collective (UK), Trinity Laban Centre (UK), National Theatre (UK), SACPA (Indonesia) and with Clowns Without Borders (UK). She is Co-Artistic Director of Malaysian based company, Wayang Kitchen, who fuse food and performance. She is founder and co-founder of The Lost Cabaret Bristol and Paris, respectively.

She has worked with devised & physical theatre pioneers David Glass Ensemble for 6 years, as well as Omnibus Theatre, Bristol Old Vic Theatre, Trinity Community Arts, Goldsmith’s University, Poplar Union, Bristol Beacon, The Egg Theatre Royal, The Wardrobe Theatre, Now Theatre (MY), Marphy’s PlayHouse (CH), Teatro dei Rozzi (IT), Shoreditch Town Hall, Jackson’s Lane, Bristol School of Acting, We The Curious, Borderlands, Legal Aliens Theatre, Filskit Theatre, Shambala, Latitude, Melaka MAP (MY), London Clown and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, as well as unconventional spaces such as Bristol Zoo, the Brunel Tunnel Shaft, Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum, and the streets of Paris, London, Melaka and Bristol.