Sedusa the Clown

It was International Women's Day (11th March 2011) and a new clown performance called "Don't Look at Me" took to the great British public for the fourth time. Some of the material had been devised in advance, whilst other clown material was generated through improvising in the moment with spectators in public and private spaces. It is a new method of devising a performance and with it are the associated problems of clowning without people knowing that I am a clown and not an oddball. However, it is turning out to be exciting and allowing me to discover what works. The title alone generates a reaction - people automatically look and laugh when I say "Don't look at me! I'll turn you to stone". I do a double take and we laugh. You had to be there.....

The headdress is stunning. My clever and inventive friend Dagmar Schwitzgebel has French knitted 50 snakes. She crotched faces for their writhing bodies and stitched on beads for eyes and red forked tongues. I wear a gold and silver sequined dress, maroon Doc Martins and I carry a small wooden sword. A date with Sedusa the clown is risky, after all she has a frightful reputation.....

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