Clowning & Neurodivergency

Participant notes from Clown Congress 2025
Session proposed and documented by Carla Keen

Attendees: 10-12
This session was convened because of the amount of neurodivergent (ND) folk that clowning tends to attract. I am curious about why that is, to talk about the overlap, and hear people’s experiences.

Note: a ‘talking stick’ approach was used as with many neurodivergent folk in the space, there was both talking fast/over-talking combined with difficulty processing lots of info. In short: people with different needs for communication. The talking stick enabled us to stay focussed on one person, and one topic at a time. We used a nice purple pen. :D

Key themes
How do ND folk engage with ‘traditional’ theatrical tools/methods?
Training: should there be someone available who is there solely to support ND folk?
Does clown allow us to reclaim or embrace what is being said about ND people?
Does the use of medication impair your clown?

To be (your ND self) or not to be (your ND self)?
Being yourself vs masking and the relationship to being on stage
For some being on stage allows the mask to be removed, for others it makes a space for a kind of mask or character which is not themself. So, a clown state can allow for both an escape from and/or a full embodiment of your ‘true self’.

But, if your ND is a way into your funny, or part of your clown, does this mean you allow yourself to be further ‘othered’? Clowns are ‘idiots’ and ‘freaks’ - they present parts of the self that are often (for whatever reason) kept hidden or used sparingly - does it help to put your ND self out as a clown? Or does it further ‘other’ a group that already struggles to occupy space?

Arguably a way to embrace what is probably being said anyway…(think of the word ‘queer’, for example.)

Diagnosis
Is there any value in a diagnosis? You know already if you are ND. But we live in a world where social contracts make it hard, so means you have a shorthand way to communicate, enables you to advocate for yourself.

Has anyone found that medication has dulled their ‘funny’? Some said yes. That ability to think fast or the impulse to say/do something, the ND spark, can sometimes leave you, which is great if you are doing practical things like producing, but feels somehow leave you feeling less like you and less able to clown as you did.

Training
Do you need someone available who is aside from the workshop able to provide care/support? Should workshop leaders provide this.
OR is there the expectation that if you are at a workshop you are able to look after yourself -
How do you clown if you don’t feel safe? Clown is a vulnerable state
Suggestion that care can be provided by the community - that as a collective group of people clowning would be able to ‘catch you’

Clown as a concept
Idea that it is calling - that like ND - you don’t choose it, it is something within that you need to do
The idea of clowning - things like making yourself vulnerable, saying the unsaid, masking, are things that ND people do all the time - they are used to being ‘other’
We are just being human on stage - coming with what we have
ND lots of women in particular, have ‘found’ themselves or felt seen. Lots of ND women going ‘yes this is me’ - and this mirrors the discovery of clown