Clown Soup
6 weekly Clown Play Sessions to bring lightness to the dark cold months

As the long, dark winter nights stretch out ahead come inside, get cosy and playful with another 6 week block of delicious Clown Soup.

Join Robyn Hambrook (The Bristol Clown School, The Online Clown Academy, Bristol Rebel Clowns) 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'

★ "Joyous, free flowing, liberating."
Participant, 'Don't Be Stupid' Weekly Clown Classes

​★ "Robyn's unique blend of directing and shaping play through quick wit and a caring yet urgent tone - sets the tone and pace beautifully." 
Participant, 'The Activist Clown Weekend'

How it works

Dates & times:
Tuesdays - SOLD OUT
Thursdays
25 January and 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 February
6.45pm – 9pm

Venue:
Desperate Studios
Epstein Bldg, Cato St, Easton, Bristol BS5 6JL

Cost:
6 weeks - £70 - £100 sliding scale - pay what you can afford
Special early bird deal – 6 sessions for just £55 (until 21 December)
Drop in per 2 hour session - £12 - £18 sliding scale

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

Book your place

About the facilitator

Robyn Hambrook is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. 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 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 and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory.
Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with 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. Robyn’s research, started during her Masters, has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and activism, online, in the real world and with international collaborators. With this drive to explore political edges of her work she has also dived back into the world of the Bouffon; training with Jaime Mears, Bim Mason, Nathaniel Justiniano, Eric Davis, Tim Licata, Al Seed and the grand master Bouffon-himself; Philippe Gaulier. 
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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).