Cover Photo: Mooky Cornish - M.Cornish Archive 

Life is disappointing. This is not a popular idea, although I believe it is a universal human truth, not just a personal failure specific to my own situation. If we hope, we invariably are disappointed when the outcome doesn’t deliver the prize. And we don’t always get the prize - this is another universal truth of life. My interest is to investigate how clowns are well positioned, by being the members of society who are “below zero” (LeBank, Bridel 150), to illuminate the darkness of disappointment through laughter and joy.  Laughter is an essential response to a tragic world; not a frivolous denial of this tragedy, but rather a revealing of it through the witnessing of the indomitable human spirit, rising again and again, against all odds.
 
As examples of this form of clown performance I analyze clown shows I have created which explore stories of disappointment. I am interested in how these disappointments illuminate not only my own situation but the human condition of others who also do not fit into, or fulfill, the prescribed roles of society. Clowns provide an alternate possibility of how to live as the ‘other’ in society, offering examples of how to “make something wonderful out of who they truly, deeply, and simply are. They don’t hide or conceal themselves […] to appear as someone else, or someone good, or someone right.” (LeBank, Bridel vii). 
 
Clowns tell us the stories of the marginalized - those who fall between the cracks of our perfect society.
 
This is Part Three in an investigation into Clowns, Failure and Resiliency.
 
Part One: BOUNCING TOWARDS GRACE: RISKING FAILURE IN SEARCH OF THE SUBLIME - Falling into the Abyss with Clowns and Circus
 
Part Two: SURVIVING THE FALL: THE RESILIENCY OF A CLOWN - What’s Bred Into Our Bones
 
This is a course project of DRA3904 Performing Failure - Theories on Perfection and the Sublime. Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto. Instructor: Antje Budde. TA: Monty Martin. Fall 2015.