ClownLink.com

I read recently on John Towsen’s blog ALL FALL DOWN  about Jim Carter, the prim and proper butler Mr. Carson from  PBS & ITV’s celebrated hit Downton Abbey and the fact that Carter is a trained juggler and magician/comedian. He apparently trained with Hovey Burgess in the 70’s, and used to work the streets of London as a juggler, unicyclist, and  perform a comedy magic […]

  The Signature Theatre is hosting a new collaboration between David Shiner and Bill Irwin.  You may remember that they have collaborated once before in the hit FOOL MOON, which ran on Broadway in 1993 for over 200 performances, and then returned to Broadway twice (1995, 1999)  for another 120 engagements .  That show, 20 years ago, won the Tony […]

If you have any interest in German immigration or American popular culture (or the intersection of the two) then you should probably check out the inimitable Trav S.D.’s talk on the same (a presentation to the 19nth Century Historical Society in NY.) Trav is a longtime friend, and is the best kind of scholar of popular culture- he’s an entertaining […]

You don’t want to miss Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo, at the New Victory theatre through January 27. A Dinosaur from Erth running amok in Galway. Times Square is next! We saw this last week, and it was really great.  Fantastic puppetry and a vaudeville style m.c. keeps the show moving and the audience laughing. The show is set in the Australian […]

I recently read a very interesting article about a Brazilian clown who became a congressman in 2010 in Brazil, and was recently named one of the top 25 Brazilian politicians. (Thanks to Jim Moore  of Vaudevisuals for posting something about him on Facebook) The clown, Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva—better known by his clown name Tiririca (Grumpy),  ran in 2010 after being invited by […]

A fantastic evening of circus and cabaret music will be presented on January 24, when three circus/cabaret groups all collide at the Jalopy Theatre. The three groups are Cirkestra (from Boston), Brooklyn’s own ukelele temptress Sweet Soubrette, and Brooklyn-based ragtime-punk sextet Apocalypse Five And Dime. Founded by a former circus clown Peter Bufano, Cirkestra has a Balkan-gypsy-klezmer-jazz sound backed up […]

I recently saw I, Malvolio at the New Victory theatre, and I think you should too. this is its last weekend to run.  (Here’s where you can buy tickets) It’s a great and rigorous deconstruction of  the character Malvolio from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  Malvolio in this production is kind of a bouffon character– a twisted wretch, a shade of his dignified […]

This lecture is produced in conjunction with a great circus exhibition that is happening at Bard College.  The exhibit is called Circus and the City: New York 1793-2010. The exhibit runs through February 3.. The lecture itself is given by Clownlink reader and friend, David Carylon, a former Ringling clown, a PHD in theatre/circus history, and the author of THE […]

Merry Christmas, everybody! (or Happy Holidays, if Christmas isn’t your thing)

Circus Oz is one of the finest circuses on the planet.   They started in Melbourne, Australia in 1978, and since then have toured nationally and internationally , taking their self-crafted performances of wit, grace and spectacle to 26 countries across five continents, to critical acclaim. The Circus Oz show is a rock-n-roll, animal free circus that adults and children […]

Go Inspired is listing two Commedia Dell’arte workshops in December and June. New York City: Dec. 26-28, 2012 with Stanley Allen Sherman ($295 includes workshop only) You can find out more about this at Stanley’s website:  http://www.commediau.com/  Participants learn the physical style of Commedia dell’Arte as we believe it was “then” and how it may be used “now” as a creative […]

‘Ninja Clown‘ is a PG-12 show presented by students from the Clown Conservatory at Circus Center in San Francisco. The production is a culmination of 7 weeks of intensive training under the leadership of Joe Dieffenbacher.  Joe is the  director of the Clown Conservatory, taking over from Jeff Raz. I met both of these guys at Dell’arte (when I met Joe […]

Photo courtesy of Oily Cart. We saw Ring A Ding Ding at the New Victory Theatre last week, and it was really fantastic.  To read a preview article of the show, you can look at my Dad oriented blog, Dadapalooza. The show is presented by  is presented by London’s Oily Cart Company.  Oily Cart has been touring their unique brand of theatre […]

Circus Smirkus is taking applications for their  2013 Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour! If you will be between the ages of 10 and 18 during the summer of 2013, are interested in circus, and have a good stage presence, you should apply.  The Big Top tour will travel and perform over 60 performances throughout New England . Hope to see you […]

As I mentioned in my last post, we saw CirColombia’s Urban at the New Victory. It’s a circus made up  entirely of graduates of Circos Par Todos, Colombia’s National Circus  School and a program for kids in the toughest barrio’s and favelas of  Colombia. The idea is to get kids out of the ghettos using the power of circus. Wonderful […]