Resurrection!

In the book, “Lord of the Rings,” Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee discuss the great stories of old. “It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

The great classics share insurmountable loss – even death. This may be death of a dream, death of hope, an insurmountable loss.  But, the story doesn’t stop there. When hope is lost, and there is no perceivable way to conquer the struggle, an ember begins to glow in the darkness. It grows and becomes a flame. The fire builds and a light begins to shine--resurrection occurs. The death is defeated and hope has won.

Many of our WCA clown ministry performers celebrate Easter. It’s all about the belief in death and resurrection—the greatest story ever told.

The Marvel comics movies (Ironman, Thor, Avengers, etc.) all follow the same storyline. Disney movies see a hero or heroine encounter a problem that is unconquerable, but in the end the character still triumphs. Hopelessness is conquered.

Understand this principle in your clowning also: Your audience wants to see you ultimately succeed, not fail. Your audience wants to cheer your success. 

So, when clowning, don’t just fail, and fail, and fail and then walk off the stage. Fail and fail and then succeed! They will cheer for you! 

Sympathy is not our ultimate goal in clowning. We don’t want people to become depressed with us, and then we leave them there. That’s what may happen if they simply watch your continuous defeat.

Years ago I performed a routine for a young audience where I made a dove appear, then I unwittingly “destroyed” the dove, and it became a rubber chicken. Though it was hilarious comedy to the older folks in my audience, my youngest members were clearly bothered by the fact that the dove had been “hurt.” At least, that was the perception they had.  I realized that I needed to produce the dove at the end of the effect to reveal that the dove had not actually been hurt. I needed to include a resurrection after that obvious “defeat.”

“Shock humor” simply does that to people – it leaves them shocked! Maybe there’s a better way to entertain those we encounter.

We bring hope to our audiences as they see our clown characters conquer the insurmountable problems—even in surprising ways.  Happy resurrection!

-This article was originally shared in the "Not Quite Clowning Around" email publication by the World Clown Association (2015).