Clowning for Peace
The language of the time – peace, laughter, health and healing.
Since the beginning of the Peace Walk in Winnipeg, Loonisee came up with shows for the event. Penelope joined Marmalade in doing festivals around Manitoba one summer and the Children’s Festival always welcomed clowns. As I taught clowns, they were able to rove at a festival and learn from the audience.
The Peace Show
The Forks had a huge cement stage down by the river with a natural amphitheater going up the hill. This was one of the first Earth Day celebrations which had replaced the annual Peace Walk. We were used to volunteering our time, so it didn’t seem like a big deal. When we got there, the place was packed. There were hundreds of people sitting on the three levels up to the market. My stomach went into my knees.
James Meagher was playing with us then on his Strat. It was a mean guitar. We’d adapted a Beatle’s song to “Don’t cut me down…..” to become environmental. Pierrot played a black and white rubber tree that bounced. Mister was a Lumber Jack with an imaginary chain saw.
As James and Rockbert sang and played this amazing Beatle’s song, Mister chased Pierrot through the audience. She kept hiding behind people while Mister asked if anyone had seen a rubber tree. Everyone protected Pierrot and sent him the other way.
When the show was over and Pierrot was walking through the crowd to get to the Market, a crowd of teens stood up and started clapping. Pierrot was thrilled.
Popcorn Philosophy
Penelope's Porch!! By Patti Sutherland
I do some of my best thinking on the porch. I painted it last summer - it is gold and orange with lots of cool old furniture and many spots for my tea cup. Now that I've got my porch up and running people just drop by. We seem to often end up sharing stories, the "you won't believe what happened to me!" experiences....and laughing, LOTS of laughing.
It is our humaness that seems to connect us on those porch talks. We share stories of bumbling through life. Clowning for me has just been an extension of those bumblings.
This summer I decided to "get serious" and take a break from clowning. Yeah Right. Like clowning is something I can turn on and off. It is the playfulness that is inherent to surviving life. I cannot simply put up a sign and say "gone for the Summer."
Throughout the course of my Summer, I left the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge. I wore my sandals on the wrong feet all day. I went to shake someone's hand and I fell into a hole in the ground. I made supper for a new date and set the smoke alarm off. These are clown moments - I cannot deny them, nor can I control them.
This is why play is such a wonderful thing - it gives us permission to be silly, and to celebrate our goofiness. Play allows us to try out new bumblings - then we don't have to hide our silly stories from one another. As adults, play can feel like something we do "on the side", or when the serious work is done. What a shame. Play is a possibility in every moment we experience.
I think it is when we try to control our bumblings that we lose our connection to each other.
So share a silly story with someone today. Play whenever you can.
If you're looking for your milk, it's in the cupboard.
Odds & Ends
Patti and David were people who came to me for clowning classes. Clowns were quite popular then and the festivals, the Forks and the community centres welcomed clowns, so the new clowns could experience working with audiences and responding to children. Skills that the students developed in clowning, they carried forward into many walks of life. It’s strange to read these old articles and see how much the social attitude toward clowns in Winnipeg has changed.
Winnipeg Free Press, Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Clown promotes laughter as good medicine
By Holli Moncrieff
Pierrot the clown (Sue Proctor) holds her nose in an ill-fated attempt to converse with student clown David Rosner during the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival at The Forks. At right, Pierrot takes a trip down a slide.
They say laughter is the best medicine and Sue Proctor can prove it. Proctor has whooped it up as a professional clown for almost 30 years and now she’s willing to share her secrets.
“Laughter is a physical tonic that releases emotions and puts the body and spirit back in balance,” she explained. “Good humour supports good health. Scientific tests show that laughter supports the immune system and aids in recovery from illness.”
The veteran funny-girl teaches clowning at the YMCA-YWCA, where she’s held classes for over five years. She also teaches people with developmental disabilities to release their inner clown.
Proctor has seen first hand what good a little chuckle can do.
“Clowning is really effective in building communication skills. We laugh a lot,” she said of her Drama Activities course at the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie. “Clowning is all about heart, which is good for everyone, whether they’re people with disabilities or sick kids.”
Proctor is also developing a pilot program with the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies. the program will focus on drama, music, art, and dance.
“These can all be excellent tools for communication, empowerment, and healing,” says Proctor. “There is no need to be a professional to have fun with the arts.”
Proctor first got her start in clowning during the theatre classes at the University of Winnipeg. She was attracted to the dramatic challenge of being a successful clown.
“It’s very difficult in that you relate directly to your audience, and your stage is always with you, but it’s also very exciting,” Proctor explained. “A lot of clowning is improvisational, so you’re always thinking on your feet.”
She now entertains mostly for families, at venues like the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival at The Forks, and the Folk Festival at Birds Hill Park.
“It’s wonderful, like being Santa Claus, a very positive experience,” she said of her years as Pierrot the Clown. “Most kids love to play with a clown. They love that a big person has entered their imaginary world.”
Love them or hate them, clowns always get a big response from kids and adults alike. Proctor ponders over why that is.
“Clowns are very different from the everyday. It’s a shock to be walking along and suddenly see a clown. It’s almost other-worldly.”
Proctor defines clowning as being silly, artfully making mistakes, exaggerating your follies, and laughing at yourself.
“It often brings out an emotional response from the audience, because clowns do what a lot of us might feel like doing, but aren’t able to show,” she explained. “For instance, if a clown drops something on his toe, he might burst into tears, something we feel like doing, but don’t.”
