Clown Training: A Practical Guide

This comprehensive guide to clown training invites you into the clown workshop and leads you through a complete clown syllabus - from the first steps in playfulness to the work of devising and creating performable numbers and shows.

Exploring key clown training methods and drawing on Jon Davison’s experience as a leading international clown teacher, Clown Training offers detailed descriptions and analyses of a wide range of techniques, games and exercises. Both practical and reflective, this is the ideal companion for students and teachers of clowning alike.

Jon Davison has been a clown, teacher, director, actor and writer for the last 30 years. He trained at the École Philippe Gaulier (London) and Fool Time Circus School (Bristol). He holds an MA in Practice as Research from the University of Kent and was an AHRC-funded Creative Fellow at Central School of Speech and Drama in London, investigating Clown/Actor Training, where he is now Visiting Lecturer in Clowning. He performs internationally as a clown with the company ’Companyia d’Idiotes’, and was a co-founder in 2006 of the Escola de Clown de Barcelona, where he developed the first ever Clown Theory and History unit, and where he is now co-Director of Studies, responsible for the design and development of full-time training programmes. He is the author of Clown: Readings in Theatre Practice.