Activist Clown Toolkit Lectures

activist clown toolkit free lecture series

In July 2025, I collaborated with Sheridan Hill and Indivisible to present a free lecture series introducing my work and the territory of the Activist Clown. Over 750 people attended across four weeks to explore how clowning can be used as a playful way to confront oppressive power. With the U.S. rapidly sliding into authoritarian rule, these workshops aimed to reveal clowning’s potential as a unique, playful yet powerful tool for Strategic Non-Violent Direct Action.

Tricksters & Truth-Sayers: A Clown History of Disruption

Case Studies: Clowning in the Wild

Finding Your Inner Activist Clown

The Tools & Tactics of the Activist Clown

HAVE FUN AND BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN YOUR PROTESTS --De-escalate tension and create more Instagrammable moments when you learn to utilize clowning as a playful means to address the injustices of authoritarianism. Clowns have always been society’s tricksters - exposing truths, mocking power, and bringing disruption & play to the frontlines of protests.

THE UNIQUE SPACE A CLOWN OCCUPIES derives its power from being on the fringes, from being not-quite-like-the-others, being a commentator, a rebel, a soothsayer.

--STREET THEATRE is the key ingredient in STRATEGIC NONVIOLENT ACTION. Explore clown as trickster, shaman, spectacle: who heals and critiques by disrupting the status quo.

DISCOVER YOUR ACTIVIST CLOWN Tap into your inner activist clown with Indivisible activist Sheridan Hill and her UK colleague Robyn Hambrook www.robynhambrook.com A UK-based director, teacher and performer, Robyn is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts, and founder of the Bristol Clown School. https://youtu.be/E3rxvlvRHOk?si=exIH0NdS31Ee17Ws

-AN ANTIDOTE TO THESE OVERWHELMING TIMES, this four-part series will prepare you to speak truth to power at your next event, make a more significant impact than ever before, and have so much fun at the same time.

-A TRICKSTER’S GUIDE TO PLAYFUL REBELLION will explore the rebellious history and tactics of activist clowning, from ancient fools to modern disruptors. Through history, case studies, and hands-on exercises, we’ll play with the tools of satire, spectacle, and collective mischief to challenge the status quo—one red nose at a time.

--FIRST FOUR TUESDAYS IN JULY AT NOON EDT, this 4-part workshop series explores the dynamics of clowning; from the deeply regenerative practice of play, presence and pleasure to the liberation in being ridiculous, transgressive and rebellious.

MORE ABOUT ROBYN HAMBROOK

Over the past six years, Robyn Hambrook has been researching the intersection of clowning and protest driven by a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This research has taken place in the streets, in protests, in research labs, online, with international collaborators and her Masters Research; ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’.

Robyn’s recent collaborations and teaching projects include the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists and academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era). Robyn has most recently founded the Bristol Clown School, creating a home for clowning in the South West of England. www.robynhambrook.com / www.bristolclownschool.co.uk

The event on Mobilize

ABOUT ROBYN

Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins and John Wright.
Over the past eight years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning, activism and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory.
Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US).
During the pandemic in 2020, Robyn set up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit and developed a series of Zoom Clown Courses. Robyn’s research, started during her Masters, has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and activism, online, in the real world and with international collaborators. With this drive to explore political edges of her work she has also dived back into the world of the Bouffon; training with Jaime Mears, Bim Mason, Nathaniel Justiniano, Eric Davis, Tim Licata, Al Seed and the grand master Bouffon-himself; Philippe Gaulier.
Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work. Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era)

contact me

Photo by HeardinLondon Photography