Clown Camp in Venus Bay

Drove here last night after the Taxi workshop with carloads of costumes and food. Stopped in Cranbourne for noodle dinner and arrived at midnight to unload the car into the Venus Bay beach house. Walked down to the ocean this morning to where ‘beach no. 5' is lined with fisherfolk with buckets and waders. Found ourselves an empty space and did some simple games on the beach. Zap and pass the changing inanimate object. Group lead moments getting to know each other and starting to play.

I swam in the winter-cold ocean while the rest of the crew sat in the sand. The aching cold in my feet turning to numbness and then the glowing skin-tingle as I left the water.

Clown dancing with Rachel. Dancing with our noses on in the circle and in little duos, to sixties pop-rock and then to Britney. That moment at the end where everyone in the circle has a nose on and we don’t know who’s going to take charge and finish.

After lunch I lead a grant submission writing workshop which was all about dreams and goals and being able to give people leads as to where they could go with their projects. Sense from everyone, as artists, that this kind of goal setting and articulating feels really useful and important. The conversation could have gone for a long time, but its so important to remember that clowns need to play.

Status with Cam, ‘mindfuck’: the game where if you get it wrong the whole group yells at you with a pointed finger ‘YOU ARE OUT OF THIS GAME’ oh god! So much fun! Ah So Kah, and the game where you stand in a circle and try to do nothing except copy the one person in the group who is your nominated person. Choosing status and exaggerating it till the whole group was pawing all over each other. The king clown who has an endless series of jesters and kills them one at a time as they stop interesting him. ‘Treats’ where both clowns have a treat and the game is to eat and enjoy your treat with more than the other clown.

Story-telling with Bronwen. One word stories as a group, one word stories as a duo, one word stories with the duo performing the story as they told it. Totally hilarious. All of us clutching ourselves with laughter as we watched. ‘The little voice.’ I feel like it’s been a long time since I worked with voice, improvised voice, in such a relaxed way. Really enjoying letting my mouth open and a story come out and evolve.

In the evening we pulled out mattresses and doonas and snuggled on couches to watch Charlie Chaplain. The boxing sequence. So brilliant. Got to be seen. All the sleepy cute clowns taking themselves off to bed in the beach house.