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If you spent your childhood plagued by nightmares of Pennywise the clown from ‘It’, look away now. We’re about to have a very different kind of ‘red nose day’ as the London Clown Festival makes its way to the Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre in Crouch End.
But if you’re after tiny cars and lapel flower-squirters, you’re out of luck. This is going to be a celebration of ‘modern clowning’: instead of horn-honking, you can expect anarchic cabaret, ‘socially conscious clowning’ from comedian Helen Duff and an appearance from Edinburgh Fringe favourite the Red Bastard. Many of the performers were trained in avant-garde French physical theatre schools like Jacques LeCoq and Ecole Philippe Gaulier (also responsible for none other than Ali G).
The inaugural clown festival took place last year at the Omnitorium, a mobile tent in Manor House, and the organisers have been crowdfunding for a second instalment of silliness ever since. Don’t let the creepy killer clown trend of 2016 put you off, these north London jesters mean you no harm.
The London Clown Festival takes place May 11-21, see the full programme here.
Photo: Justin Bernhaut.
Ain’t afraid of no clowns? Then let us introduce you to the incredible ‘clown eggs’.