Paris: The Serious Business of Clowning Around

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Clowns: freaky, funny or downright mystifying?

This week, we tread the boards of the French capital and dive into the city’s age-old love affair with this very distinct form of theatrics.

Paris has been an epicentre for performance artistry since the 1800s, but today the face of clowning and the circus look and feel very different. These days, clowning is cutthroat – demanding, grueling, and for some in the industry, a dying art that few can master. Besides a look at some of Paris’ most competitive clown schools, we also delve into the dark side of clowns and how pop culture has given us more than we bargained for beneath all that grease paint and innocent smiles: coulrophobia – the fear of clowns.

Join Passport producer, Jennifer Carr, for a fantastical journey full of conversations with clowns and artistic directors and a front row seat for an impromptu performance by Russian clown Igor, in our Barcelona studio.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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