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Circle Up Productions is pleased to present a 3 day Clown Intensive with Jon Davison!

This workshop dives into the fundamental dynamics of clowning: what happens between us when we clown in front of others, alone or with others?

This workshop is concerned with laughter, and the unique relationship the clown performer has with it - when it is present and when it is absent. But it is not concerned directly with the question of HOW to be funny. Nor is it concerned with the question of WHY something is funny. These are not inane questions but they are dealt with amply by others elsewhere.

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!

But it is never under our control. To pursue such domination is a pointless task. But neither is it advisable to discard it, out of fear of not attaining it. Clowns who MUST be funny and clowns who DON’T HAVE to be funny are a turn off.

Please read everything carefully.

When: Friday June 9, Saturday June 10 and Sunday June 11

Time: 11am - 6pm Every day (with a 1 hour break in the middle)

Where: Olympia, WA (Specific location details sent after you have registered)

Price: $305 per person

Capacity: 16 participants

Ways to Secure Your Spot and Pay

1. Send a minimum of $75 Deposit to secure your spot using VENMO, ZELLE or Personal Check

2. Please add “JD Clown & Your Email” to the memo section when you send payment in any form.

3. Make Check Payable to Circle Up Productions LLC. Mail Check to

4. Send a Follow Up Email to MichelleNMatlock@gmail.com. Subject: “I Just Secured My Spot”

5. CLICK HERE ONLY TO PAY IN FULL WITH CREDIT CARD OR PAYPAL (processing fees will be added to total) This option is only to pay in full. No Payment plan.

Feel Free to design your own payment Plan using any of these forms of payment (except #5)

The full amount of $305 will be due by June 1, 2023. 

May 1, 2023 will be the cut off deadline for cancellations with a refund minus a $25 processing fee. AFTER MAY 1, 2023 THERE WILL BE NO REFUNDS

If for any reason the organizers needs to cancel, everyone will get a full refund.

More about Jon Davison and his Clown intensives…

This workshop is mostly about relationships, between you and others, whether you or they are clowning or witnessing the clowning. The relationships form dynamically and change rapidly in real time, buffeted about by actions, responses, laughter, the absence of laughter, and our feelings about ourselves and others.

Converting our habitual fear of ridicule into the pleasure of laughing at ourselves, we can use it to make others laugh and experience the freedom clowning. How do clowns do what they do, how does your stupidity make you a success, and how does the unthinkably ridiculous come about?

When you really look, most things are ridiculous: our bodies, our movements, our ideas, our emotions, our words, our relationships, the universe. The only aim in clowning is to turn failure into success, fear into laughter, suffering into joy. 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.

Clowning is sometimes shrouded in mystery but in reality it's a very simple mode of performance. This workshop uses simple exercises rooted in laughter response in order to access clowning in the most direct manner possible.

Jon Davison has been a clown performer, teacher, director and writer for the last 40 years. He has performed at festivals, theatres, tents, streets and bars throughout Europe, and taught worldwide. Pre-pandemic he was the producer of the long-running monthly clown theatre show ‘Friday Flop’. He is currently working on a new solo show drawing on pre-modern European traditions of carnival.

He taught clown, improvisation and acting at the Institute del Teatre de Barcelona from 1996-2006, when he became a co-founder of the Escola de Clown de Barcelona. From 2007-2010 he was a Research Fellow investigating contemporary clown/actor training at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where he obtained his PhD in Clown Performance Practice. He is now Lecturer in Clowning at London Metropolitan University. He has pioneered research and teaching of clown history and theory via his online Clown Studies Course and is now collaborating on an international research project exploring the decolonization of clown pedagogy.

He has published three books, Clown: Readings in Theatre Practice (2013) and Clown Training - a practical guide (2015), and The Clowning Workbook (2023).