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by Robyn Hambrook and Holly Stoppit On the 28 & 29th March 2026, 75 clowns took over Bristol University’s drama department to explore The State of our beloved Art Form at Clown Congress 2026. What Is A Clown Congress? Clown Congress is a space for clowns of all backgrounds to come together to meet, play, chat, eat, inspire and be inspired by each other. Clown Congress 2026 was the sixth rendition; the first two iterations happened online during the pandemic, the next four happened in person in Bristol, UK. Who Was There? This year’s hosts were Robyn Hambrook (clown activist), Holly Stoppit (clown therapist) and Jan Wozniak (clown academic). We were supported by 6 Clown Congress Comrades (Eve, Grainne, Carla, Laura, Nia and Dani), a Clown Intern (Amy May), a Wellbeing Support Clown (Alice Human), our very own Dame of Documentation (Bee Golding), a Catering Manager Clown (Lucy Heard), Clown Photographers (Dan Green and Kat Hayhoe) and guest research photographer (not a clown) Jon Kent. Our congregation included: clown doctors, clown activists, clown therapists, clown performers, clown teachers, clown puppeteers, clown musicians, clown wannabe’s, clown elders, boss clowns, clown parents, neurodivergent clowns, queer clowns, clown academics, clown dancers, clown enthusiasts and clown deniers. They came from the far flung corners of the world, including; New Zealand, Turkey, Lebanon, Norway, Germany, as well as from all across the UK. What Did We Do? In the mornings, we offered warm ups and getting to know you games, before introducing the Open Space. Open Space is a radical conferencing method where the attendees get to set the agenda. Anyone could propose a session exploring any theme relating to our overarching questions (listed below), then the delegates could choose where they wanted to be - they could attend single sessions, move between sessions or just hang out at the tea urn and chat with whoever was around. Our overarching questions: ★ What is the State of our Art? What's happening in clown world? What’s going well? What are we doing that we can savour and celebrate? ★ What is the Future of Performance? Is traditional theatre dead? In the spirit of 'evolve or die,' how do we, as artists, sustain ourselves and our practice? ★ What is Clowning in Action? How do we apply clowning to make a tangible difference, in our own lives and the lives of others, through activism, therapy, and social care? ★ How can Clowning Support Community and Survival? How do we build clown communities and utopian spaces to see us through turbulent times? How do we gather outside the failing paradigms to sustain ourselves and our art? The Sessions There were 6 Open Space slots over the 2 days, with a mighty 40 (official) sessions called by the attendees (there were numerous unofficial sessions popping off all over the place). To give you a flavour of what happened, here is a run-down of all the sessions: Day 1 Sessions
Day 2 Sessions
Responding to feedback from last year, at the beginning of each day’s Open Space, we offered a Seed Session, facilitated by the marvellous Alice Human. This was designed to help clowns more fully understand how Open Space technology works and develop a seed of an idea into a session offer. The sessions took many forms, including: group discussions, performances / presentations, embodied research labs, led workshops, co-created creative explorations and pure play. Having the whole of Bristol University drama department allowed us to spread out, take space and be as noisy or quiet as we needed to be. For the second year running, our Catering Manager Clown, Lucy Heard, worked with the Co-Exist Community Kitchen to provide our clowns with tasty, healthy, nourishing lunch and snacks, so that the conversations could continue through the breaks. This year, we developed a new role, Dame of Documentation, expertly executed by the illustrious Bee Golding. Bee supported attendees to document their experiences, through curating and hosting the documentation station. This space offered many different invitations, including big pieces of paper stuck on walls, with open prompts for attendees to respond to, a huge roll of paper which attendees were encouraged to write a collective poem (starting at the bottom and moving upwards, of course), an area with all sorts of art materials, a QR code, linking to a google form to collect written reports, and many colourful bags dotted around the space with invitations for more private musings. Bee will be sharing some of the documentation soon… Our Clown hosts (Holly, Robyn and Jan), our Wellbeing Support Clown (Alice), and our fantastic team of volunteers, known as the Clown Comrades (Eve, Grainne, Carla, Laura, Nia and Dani and Amy May), were on hand to support our community in every way imaginable, from creating accessible signage, to holding hands and breathing. Analysis Holly Stoppit’s inner Clown Academic, Patrica McNish, couldn’t help but have a little play with the session titles data. Eager to understand the themes that emerged during the weekend, she took those session titles and grouped them into the following categories:
Patricia would like you to know that this is not a definitive analysis - more of a pondering on the general themes that this group of 75 clowns from different backgrounds were drawn to explore over one weekend in March 2026. She boiled this data down even further to three clear focal points: 1.) Clown as Performance, 2.) Applied Clowning (ie clowning as therapy, clowning as activism, clowning as social care, clowning as embodied research), and 3.) Clowns Playing Together for the Sake Of Play! How did the attendees describe Clown Congress? ★ “Absolute mayhem and chaos but the best weekend to connect back to your inner clown! Sometimes it takes other clowns in the land to grow your spark again and if you need that boost- this is the weekend for it!” ★ “A fabulous space to unmask, explore our clown selves and have fun with other people.” ★ “...felt heartened by the gathering of so many creative, playful, responsive, and care-filled folk. I had conversations and interactions with some seriously open-hearted people doing amazing things to offer hope, transform pain, challenge oppression, and counter the feeling of being stuck on the downhill slide of humanity.” ★ “I really felt more than ever that clowning is just unmasking and being able to be your neurodivergent self in a playful way” ★ “I would absolutely be coming back and feel empowered to listen and learn and grow” ★ “Clown Congress is an invitation to anyone and everyone who wants to trust in the power of creative and curious humans gathering together without a strict plan. The Open Space format creates a non-hierarchical container to engage, experiment and explore ideas, where the people hold the possibility for anything to exist. You can dive right in or splash around on the edges. Unscripted, joyful and deeply moving.” Thank You!
Massive thanks to our wonderful team for helping to create a joyful, nourishing, inspiring and meaningful weekend. A huge thank you to all of our attendees for bringing so much curiosity, generosity, enthusiasm, playfulness and compassion. A deep bow to Bristol University for letting us fill their drama department with our very important nonsense! Photo credits and big appreciation to Dan Green and Kay Hayhoe Comments are closed.
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AuthorCreative research into the meeting point of clowning and activism Archives
May 2026
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ABOUT ROBYN
Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 25 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) |
Photo by HeardinLondon Photography
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