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London Clown School Three-Week Course

Dates: 12th-30th May 2025

Venue: Longfield Hall, 50 Knatchbull Road, London SE5 9QY

www.longfieldhall.org.uk

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Cost: 

£900 (payment in full)

£1,050 (payment in three instalments of £350)

£350 per single week

(Please see cancellation policy below on this page)

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Times10am-4pm

Week 1: Monday 12th – Friday 16th May

Week 2: Monday 19th - Friday 23rd May

Week 3: Monday 26th – Friday 30th May

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Email info@jondavison.net for details on how to enrol

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Maximum: 18 participants per workshop

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The Three-Week Clown Course will take place in the wonderful space at Longfield Hall https://www.facebook.com/LongfieldHall

The Three-Week Clown Course starts with the fundamentals of clowning and works towards creating your own clown performance in the way that suits you and performing it in the place that suits you.

 

We begin with the dynamics of clowning: when we present ourselves as ridiculous for each other’s own amusement, and when we laugh (or don’t laugh) at each other.

 

​We then look at how to make sure the material you create really works for you. There are countless practical ways of devising material appropriate for your clowning. This fuses a personal approach to your clowning together with taking care to set up and structure your performance.

 

What’s my plan? And how do I perform now what I planned earlier? – keeping your in-the-moment responsiveness while performing an already created piece.

 

In the third week, we will create unique clown performances that work for you, in the style that suits you best. Whatever your ‘formal’ experience, clowning is something many of have done throughout our lives in informal or social situations, and our experiences will differ widely according to our backgrounds, cultures, and identities.

 

The course will end with a public performance of participants’ newly created clowning. Depending on your style of clowning, you may choose to present your performance in other settings: in an outdoor setting, in a specific site, online, at home, one-to-one, etc. there are no rules about where or for whom we should clown!

Week 2 – Creating Clowning

3. Skills and Unskills – Being (Un)impressive

4. Clowns in the Theatre – Being Meaningful/less

Week 1 – Training Clowning

1. Feeling and Laughter – I (Don’t) Feel Funny / That Was(n’t) Funny

2. Performing Clowning – That Was Supposed To Be funny

Week 1 covers the fundamentals of clowning in a similar way to the two separate workshops Clowning #1 and Clowning #2.

Week 2 covers how to create clown performance in a similar way to the two separate workshops Clowning #3 and Clowning #4.

Week 3 – Performing Clowning

5. Creating Performance – However You Want to Clown

6. Performing Your Clowning – Wherever You Want to Clown

Week 3 is all about you creating your own clown performance in the way that suits you and performing it in the place that suits you.

Week 1 –Training Clowning

 

Feeling and Laughter – “I (Don’t) Feel Funny / That Was(n’t) Funny”

“How do I get into the mood for clowning? How do I get over not being funny?”

 

The fundamental dynamics of clowning: when we present ourselves as ridiculous for each other’s own amusement, and when we laugh (or don’t laugh) at each other.

 

Clowns have a unique relationship with laughter. Laughter is the fulcrum upon which clowning balances. Laughter does amazing things to us, physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually. Whilst we are immersed in it, it seems to relieve us of the burdens of norms, expectations and even meaning itself. What a relief!

 

When you really look, most things are ridiculous: our bodies, our movements, our ideas, our emotions, our words, our relationships, the universe. We don’t need to change ourselves, just look at everything from another perspective. It’s a human thing to do, so anyone can do it.

 

We will experiment with how you, as a performer, respond to that response from the onlooker. How do you behave, feel or think when the spectator laughs, or does not laugh? Indeed, how do you behave, feel or think upon the mere appearing in front of that audience whose expectations are already formed?

 

Performing Clowning – “That Was Supposed To Be funny”

“What’s my plan? And how do I perform now what I planned earlier?”

 

​We will explore in depth the material you create to clown with and the relationship with the in-the-moment performance.

 

What’s my plan? - what and how to plan, create, devise what you’re going to clown with

 

How do I perform now what I planned earlier? – keeping your in-the-moment responsiveness while performing an already created piece.

 

We shall be looking at how to make sure the material you create really works for you. There are countless practical ways of devising material appropriate for your clowning. Awareness of and understanding of these is far preferable to just a single idea will survive the real stage situation. ​This work fuses a personal approach to your clowning together with taking care to set up and structure your performance.

 

Week 1 covers the fundamentals of clowning in a similar way to the two separate workshops Clowning #1 and Clowning #2.

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Week 2 – Creating Clowning

 

Skills and Unskills – “Being (Un)impressive”

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How can we bring together your own particular stupidity and craziness with the things you do well? Do you have ‘recognised skills’ like music or dance? Or eccentric abilities with no ‘value’ such as waggling your ears, or burping on cue to entertain your friends at a party. Or are you ‘skill-less’ and seemingly devoid of all talent?

  

In the second week we will draw on your own particular ways of doing things well and badly, in order to explore how to create clown performance:

  

  • what makes your abilities ridiculous?

  • generating clown performance material: wrongness, disruption, surprise

  • clown scripting: structures, formats, paths

 

By the end of this week, you will hopefully have an idea of

  • how your particular kind of clowning works

  • how to generate clown material that works for you

 

Clowns in the Theatre – “Being Meaningful/less”

 

We will explore clowns as both protagonists and intruders upon the performance. As creators and destroyers of meaning and of worlds. As dramatic figures who collide and harmonise with each other through their ridiculous desires, hopes and fears.

 

Using exercises and games specifically designed for these purposes, we will look at:

 

  • Clowns as masters of ceremony and owners of the stage

  • Clowns as protagonists of the play with something to say

  • Clowns as intruders upon the well-made and meaningful play

  • Clown drama: roles and dynamics

 

Some clowns appear to be full of meaning and profundity, ‘having something to say’, speaking truth. But then others appear to have ‘nothing to say’, except perhaps for saying that meaning is ridiculous! Some clowns exist alone, some in groups, some co-exist with other kinds of ‘serious’ performers. What will work best for you?

 

Week 2 covers how to create clown performance in a similar way to the two separate workshops Clowning #3 and Clowning #4.

 

 

Week 3 – Performing Clowning

 

Week 3 is all about you creating your own clown performance in the way that suits you and performing it in the place that suits you.

 

Creating Performance – “However You Want to Clown”

Whatever your ‘formal’ experience, clowning is something many of have done throughout our lives in informal or social situations, and our experiences will differ widely according to our backgrounds, cultures, and identities. We already know a lot about clowning before we ever set foot in a class or on a stage. All of this knowledge is welcome, without the need for aesthetic unity or discipline.

 

In the third week, we will create unique clown performances that work for you, in the style that suits you best.

 

Performing Your Clowning – “Wherever You Want to Clown”

 

The course will end with a public performance of participants’ newly created clowning. Depending on your style of clowning, you may choose to present your performance in other settings: in an outdoor setting, in a specific site, online, at home, one-to-one, etc. there are no rules about where or for whom we should clown!

Paiements  

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Veuillez envoyer un e-mail à info@jondavison.net et je vous enverrai les détails de la façon de payer.

 

Annulations

 

Je ne rembourse pas les paiements effectués (paiements complets ou partiels), mais je peux vous offrir la possibilité d'utiliser votre paiement pour un cours ou un atelier à une date ultérieure dans l'année suivant le cours initial. Cela ne peut être fait qu'une seule fois et doit être demandé au moins 48 heures avant le début d'un cours ou d'un atelier. Si vous annulez dans les 24 heures ou ne vous présentez pas sans notification, vous devrez payer tous les frais impayés.

 

Cette politique vise à protéger la viabilité des cours, dont les coûts et le nombre de participants doivent être confirmés à l'avance.

 

J'essaie de garder tous les prix aussi bas que possible (je n'ai pas oublié à quel point il peut être difficile d'être étudiant). C'est pourquoi il existe un tarif unique, sans remise ni tarif préférentiel.

« Merci pour le cours brillant. C'était merveilleux à tous points de vue – un défi personnel sans aucune terreur, ouverture d'esprit, conquête de la peur. Je pense que tout le monde devrait faire un cours de clown pour mieux se comprendre et comprendre les autres. Et surtout faites le vôtre. (Dr Dea Birkett, Ringmaster et leader de Circus250)

 

« Jon est un professeur brillant ! » (Dani Tonks, Wild Play Lab, Londres)

 

"Jon est le meilleur professeur que j'aie jamais eu, et je suis une personne très pointilleuse. Il est comme la pluie qui tombe doucement sur la terre, humidifie doucement l'herbe et encourage chaque plante à pousser à son propre rythme. Il ne juge jamais les gens et donne beaucoup de liberté. Il fabrique des échafaudages et vous vous surprendrez à faire des progrès et à réaliser plus que vous ne l'espériez. La façon dont il m'a inspiré a définitivement renforcé ma confiance en moi et stimulé ma créativité. Maintenant, je me connais mieux et je m'aime plus. Last but not least, tout le bonheur et la bêtise que vous éprouverez dans son cours de clown sont la médecine de la vie ! Nous nous sommes tous tellement amusés ! » (Jingxian Mei, Clown Foundation Course 2018)

 

"Vous ne saurez pas quand vous commencerez un cours de clown ce que vous découvrirez ... avec Jon Davison, il se consacre entièrement à votre voyage, un soutien et un véritable guide. Il a des idées spécifiques et utiles, qu'il communique clairement, encore plus , il a une réelle capacité à faciliter votre apprentissage. Les gens disent que c'est un génie des professeurs de clown. Je le dis aussi, même si je n'ai connu que 8 autres professeurs de clown. Je ne veux jamais quitter la London Clown School … c'est pourquoi je suis si heureux de continuer à se tromper (c'est une mauvaise blague de clown) ! »

(Justine Smith)

 

« Si vous pouvez le faire  et je pensais y aller, vas-y. C'est incroyable." (Caitlin Day - Nottingham Clown Course)

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"merci beaucoup pour tous les rires et les expériences jusqu'à présent... c'est un cours merveilleux et je vous suis très reconnaissant, ainsi qu'au groupe, pour la pure joie de tout cela. Merci d'avoir partagé vos superbes cadeaux et votre enseignement"  (Mark Denham - élève de la London Clown School)

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"Le cours d'emojis de ce matin...
??
  "  (Avril Cummins - professeur de théâtre à Johannesburg)

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« une enseignante qui n'a jamais abandonné et m'a appris à ne pas avoir peur » (Fiona Keenan, étudiante à l'atelier Bristol)

 

« Quel atelier ridiculement drôle et instructif ! »  (Nathalie Codsi, étudiante clown de Brighton)

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"Merci pour un atelier aussi engageant. J'ai adoré la façon dont vous avez moins mis l'accent sur le clown individuel - ce qui a toujours été un moyen difficile pour moi. C'était fascinant de voir comment nous sommes arrivés à bon nombre des concepts de base du clown dans un manière plus intuitive et ressentie."

(Rebecca Stevens MA Performance Practice Research, RCSSD)

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« L'atelier était fantastique, l'une des meilleures choses que j'ai faites depuis mon arrivée en Angleterre… Je ris définitivement beaucoup plus et beaucoup plus depuis l'atelier ! (Dror Latan, étudiant en Circomédia)

 

"Très amusant et une très bonne expérience d'apprentissage" (Katherine Steer, étudiante clown de Brighton)

  

« J'apprécie vraiment votre approche pédagogique... J'ai senti que j'étais bien à l'aise dans la session (car j'étais un peu nerveux), mais vers la fin, j'avais l'impression que nous creusions plus profondément. C'était un beau dégradé ! (Jenny Haufek, clown de Brighton et étudiante)

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"Certains des ateliers les plus éclairants et les plus agréables que j'ai faits (et je suis accro aux choses)" (Jonathan Richardson, producteur du House of Idiot Comedy Club et étudiant de la London Clown School)  

 

« Jon Davison est un excellent professeur de clown » (Lucy Hopkins, interprète et créatrice de théâtre physique indépendante)

 

"J'aurais aimé être à Londres pour faire ça, cet homme est un génie !!" (Klara Van Wyk, étudiante clown et interprète, Afrique du Sud)

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