«The Clown in You» a guide to contemporary clowning by Caroline Dream

Clown Yourself aims to reinforce and broaden your understanding of clown technique, as well as encourage you to think and behave in clown-like ways in your daily life.

Part 1 is packed with useful and interesting information such as: why it’s so important to keep digging into the depths of our stupidity, the clown games that never fail to work, how having problems can enhance the comedy, why telling lies is so vital to creativity, what strategies to apply when things aren’t going as planned, etc. All, of course, peppered with exercises, examples and quotes.

Part 2 offers four weeks of “clown practices”; ideas on how to practise different aspects of the art of clowning in your daily life. They are designed for you to maximize your clown creativity during the week so as not to lose momentum between courses or performances.

The first three chapters of this clown book introduce the reader to the art and craft of clowning as practiced by professional clowns throughout the world today. They also clarify all the misconceptions that have arisen around the clown that in reality hinder a student’s ability to be funny.

Chapters four to ten tackle specific areas of clown technique. Each chapter contains explanations of the reasons for, and reasoning behind, each element of the technique, plus guidelines and examples of how it all works on a practical level

Chapter eleven explores one of the least discussed aspects of clowning; the most common fears students face and how they can be dealt with.

The final chapter examines the necessary ingredients for clowning success. It also covers the phenomenon of “flying”, finding one’s own unique comic wings.

Content

Part 1

Chapter 1 gives you an overall view of the book’s content and an explanation of how the daily life clown practices came into being.

Chapter 2 contains a whole stack of persuasive reasons why to clown and keep practising regularly.

Chapter 3 tackles the thorny issue of identity and explains in depth why maintaining a concrete idea of “who you think you are” will only limit your clown’s ability to be generous with who you really are.

Chapters 4 to 7 cover specific areas of clown technique . Each chapter contains explanations of the reasons for, and reasoning behind, each element of the technique, plus exercises and examples of how it all works on a practical level.

Chapter 8 details the many challenges you face when improvising and offers a series of blueprints to facilitate your ability to make better, bolder and more comic choices.

Part 2

4 weeks of Monday to Friday clown practice options to keep you homing in on your clown skills and throwing yourself into the comic fray… day after day.