I've only gone and landed myself a speaking slot at Reflect Rethink Reboot, the Bristol TEDx event this November!!!

Hello and welcome to the 4th the series of blogs entitled, “When Holly Met....” This year, I've been making it my mission to grab hold of passing clown teachers and pin them down for lunch (not literally). I've been voice recording our chats, then transcribing and shaping them into a series of candid conversations about all things clown.

In this blog, I'm chatting with much travelled, now Bristol-based clown-activist, Robyn Hambrook. Come pull up a chair and join us for lunch.

For one week in July 2019, Extinction Rebellion (XR) plopped a big pink boat in the middle of Bristol Bridge, stopping traffic and creating a space for peaceful protest. 

In this blog, I talk about my 3 days of rebel clowning and show photos.

After a jam packed 6-months of back-to-back teaching projects, interspersed with book writing in every possible gap, I decided to TAKE THE WHOLE MONTH OF JULY OFF WORK!

Here's what I learned...

It's a Monday morning in June, just before the rain set in. Two clown teachers are having two slow mornings after having taught two different clown workshops to two different groups of brave adventurers all weekend. They're both tired, but they've heard so much about each other, it's seems ridiculous not to meet up for brunch.

Deanna Fleysher, the remarkable and hilarious comedy artist, teacher, director, and audience inclusion devotee, has come all the way from America to Bristol UK to perform her film noir murder mystery show, Butt Kapinski and present her 'Naked Comedy' workshop. 

Holly went to see Deanna's show a few nights ago and loved it for its risk, boldness and interaction. She realised why everyone kept saying; “You two should know each other.” And so, the stars have aligned for their first official meeting

I was commissioned to create and deliver a Site Responsive Clown Devising Weekend Workshop, way back in the rainy days of June. Remember them? Here's a little taste of what happened, in words and pictures.

Whether you're a virgin clown, diving into clowning for the very first time, a partially cooked clown, ready to take your next step into stupidity and beyond, or a veteran fool, looking to jump in even deeper to a world of play and discovery, you're in the right place! We've workshops galore this autumn.

This week, I received an email from a student who recently attended one of my courses. Attached to the email, was a document marked 'private and confidential', which outlined everything I'd got wrong and how, if they were running the workshop, they would have done it better. No, I won't be sharing the feedback (I can hear you from here, saying “Gizza look!”), but what I will share, is the reflection process which spontaneously emerged, to help me digest the criticism in order to learn and grow. I hope this will be useful for you too.

Breaking News - deadline extended for Holly Stoppit Workshops Physical Theatre Summer School, 12-16 August, with special guest teacher Dominique Fester. 

Applications are back open for this course and NOW BOOKING ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.

PLUS!! NEW BURSARY SCHEME - £200 PLACES* available for those who would not otherwise be able to access this... Read more >

Holly Stoppit would like to invite you to a playful discussion about access and inclusion.  

<<What's all this about then?>>

Hi, I'm Holly, a workshop leader, devising director and dramatherapist based in Bristol. Lately I've been thinking about how to make my work more accessible to people with different abilities.