Nobody’s a Fool But Me
The clowns from across Canada met in Winnipeg and shared the diversity, social benefits and fun of clowning.
It was time to do something with all the experiences my clowns were gathering. It was the beginning of the online era and we brought in clowns from across Canada to meet and share their expertise with each other through workshops, panels and performances. It was time to do something with all the experiences my clowns were gathering. It was the beginning of the online era and we brought in clowns from across Canada to meet and share their expertise with each other through workshops, panels and performances.
Nobody’s Fool: But Everybody’s Laughing
In 1997 a group of clowning students and myself worked on bringing the pieces of the art of clowning and the social benefits together in a clowning conference at the Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It included hospital clowning, which is now mostly called therapeutic clowning, and demonstrated aspects of the healing impact that the practice of clowning can have on the community or an individual’s life. One of the presenters was Cathy Fenwick who had written a book on how clowning had helped in her struggle with cancer. We ended the event in a large circle where people shared their stories. It went on for the whole afternoon. I had no idea this would happen. Leslie Hughes (a CBC journalist) wrote a wonderful letter in support of the event. As Pierrot, I did mime to a Laura Smith song called “I’m a Beauty.” Leslie said it made her cry. We had panels as well as performances and brought together all different kinds of clowns. Our local legend, “The One-Man Band,” Al Simmons, led us all in a workshop. And Sara and Suzie from the Yukon had the audience in stitches with their grandmother characters. There was even a presentation on Christian clowning.
Leslie Hughes letter from the “Idea Room” in March 1998 describes the event:
“Last October, I was fortunate to cover an unusual conference in Winnipeg called Nobody’s Fool: But Everybody’s Laughing.
It was an unforgettable event which brought together an amazing variety of artists. I could see it was an affirmative experience for them to share their experiences as entertainers: it was wonderful to hear how they coped with, and grew from unpredictable experiences in their work.
It was even more powerful to watch, and to report on, the remarkable variety of uses of humour in our present society. I refer to the work of clowns with terminally ill children, their parents, and their medical caregivers, and to the work of clowns in politically repressed areas such as El Salvador. The timeless clown is, apparently, able to make headway in situations where “serious”, conventional methods have failed.
The Clown conference was a unique forum for the development of those whose art involves humour, whether they are writers, actors, comedians, musicians, dancers, or therapists. It also clearly demonstrated to others in the community – police, social workers, nurses, teachers, media and business people how an early art form, clowning, can be used to do the basic work of any community – communication and healing.
Because, as an attending journalist, I learned so much about the art of the clown, as well as the needs of the community. I look forward to another event of this kind very soon.
Sincerely yours,
Lesley Hughes
Writer/Broadcaster”
Motley crew hits town
By Doug Lunney Staff Reporter
The Gas Station Theatre has temporarily become the Laughing Gas Station Theatre.
It’s been taken over by odd characters, even more unusual than those who regularly roam the Osborne Village area. Most sport over-sized shoes, plenty of makeup, outrageous wigs and ear-to-ear grins.
Still sound like the average villager?
Well, these individuals are gathered for a conference to celebrate Canadian clowning put on by Clownwise Inc. It’s entitled Nobody’s Fool: But Everybody’s Laughing. More than 40 people registered for the conference which began Thursday and wraps up tomorrow.
“Some are established clowns and some are interested in beginning.” said coordinator Sue Proctor. “We have a policeman here, social and health-care workers, educators and parents who are interested in using humour in their everyday life, either as a balance or as a way of making communication more effective.”
Wonderful Experience
Joan Bunker, a veteran clown from Toronto, interrupted a vacation in B.C. to attend.
“It’s wonderful to share with other people the experience,” said Bunker, a mother and former secretary. “Whether it’s party clowning, conference clowning or hospital clowning, they’re all giving of themselves. It feeds my creative side when I see what other people are doing.”
Bunker was inspired to become a clown four years ago after seeing a television feature on Winnipeg clown Karen Ridd, who is the founder of the clown-in-the-hospital program at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital.
Bunker took theatre and improvisation courses, then raised funds to start a program as a therapeutic clown. She eventually developed her character, Bunky the Clown, and visits the hospital two days a week with Camilla Gryski (Posie the Clown).
“Sometimes I’m riding a tricycle and other times it’s just enough to be there to hold hands and get a smile,” she said.
Clowning for Connection - Joan Barrington (Bunky)
Selected Clown Notes from St. Boniface Hospital Clown Program
I met Joan at the first Nobody’s Fool conference. Joan’s love of and commitment to therapeutic clowning was kindled in the mid-1980s with a dream of a clown. Through mentoring with Karen Ridd, one of the first therapeutic clowns in Canada, Bunky was born, and through her fundraising proposal to Child Life, she successfully launched Ontario’s first therapeutic clown program in 1993 at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Her ever-evolving professional development has been enriched through management courses and creative workshops in voice and movement, improvisation and scene study.
In 1999, Barrington was co-founder and director of Therapeutic Clowns Canada Foundation, a driving force behind start-up programs in other healthcare facilities across Canada. A founding member of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns (CATC) in 2005, she continues to consult and mentor therapeutic clowns. In 2008, Barrington transitioned from her roles as manager, fundraiser and coach of the Therapeutic Clown Program at SickKids to launch Therapeutic Clowns International (TCI) to facilitate the momentum of therapeutic clowning globally.
From personal interview with Joan Barrington, March 2011.
“I’d been married many years when I had a dream about a clown. I came downstairs at my summer cottage in the morning, and I said to my father, “I think I’m going to be a clown.” When I saw Karen Ridd on TV as Robo in the hospital, I said, “I have to meet that woman.” I wrote to her and, you know, I didn’t think that she would answer, but she did. She was very friendly, very helpful and then she moved here to Toronto. You know, I thought, “How am I going to do this?” I went into the hospital at SickKids and asked them about starting a clown program. They said they had no money. I said, “If I raise the money, will you have the program?” They said, “Yes!” So, I did it. I raised the money. So, Karen started clowning at SickKids, and then she taught me. Not very much, mind you; she gave me some pointers and then threw me in there with the kids as Bunky the clown.
In specifically … I guess in 2001, when we were celebrating our … I guess that was our tenth anniversary, that I could see how things had really changed. There were people even coming from Europe, or say, Michael Christiansen from New York … and then I realized that they were using the same clown language. The lights were going on around the globe for a lot of different people at the same time. When Karen was starting her program in Winnipeg, Michael was starting his [program] in New York, probably someone in Europe was starting theirs. And I think, isn’t this amazing that all these light bulbs went on at the same time with this clown world that I knew nothing about.
When I go into the hospital as a clown, I have to be open—empty and open to possibilities. Whatever comes my way, I can flip it, turn the table and make it something quite different. You know, a bed isn’t just a bed, a hospital table isn’t just a table, wires aren’t just wires, a TV isn’t just … and you know, the possibilities are just wondrous.
When a child comes into the hospital, they might have forty different strangers coming through the door of their room. That’s a lot of people to create “stranger anxiety,” and so the children have to have the child life specialist help them with this. Like, they don’t know who these people are or what they are going to do to them. How do we offer the opportunity to build trust between the staff and patient? Say, if a nurse is in the child’s room checking the IV. Often when Bunky’s there and the lights are blinking and going “beep, beep,” Bunky, many times, turns that “beep, beep, beep” into music with the nurse, and then we’ll all dance. Even if the child’s in the bed and can’t get up, it doesn’t matter. We’re dancing for the child. We’re all dancing. Or I teach the nurse how to juggle. My scarves are so easy to juggle. I’m not a professional juggler, and neither is Bunky, but the scarves are so slow. It takes forever for them to come down. I just hand a staff or a parent two of the scarves and hellooo—oh, the laughing and the clapping! Isn’t that great? So, staff are part of the play. So, things start to loosen up with the staff. So, I move the play through the staff first, not the child. Then they see it’s not threatening: “Ooh, that’s kind of fun.” The child might want to do it himself, but if he has an IV in one hand, that might not be a good idea, Bunky. Hellooo, no harm.” (To be cont’d.)
References
Proctor, Sue. The Archetypal Role of the Clown as a Catalyst for Individual and Societal Transformation. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/977096/