It’s week 5 of The 8-week Inner Critic Inquiry Course. We’re half way through the course! The participants have been working hard, showing up every week to meet their critics and get to know them, through writing, artwork, embodiment and discussion, more about the sorts of things we've been up to here. 

After so much hard work, it felt like the right time to push the critics to one si... Read more >

I'm booked to do a 20 minute talk in a school. I haven't had enough time to prepare and a series of surprising people keep wanting to talk to me about completely unrelated things.

The announcement is made. "Welcome to the stage, Holly Stoppit!" 

Speckles of sporadic applause.

I look out, noticing that the audience are spread out on 2 tiers of deep shadowy booths. Squinting into the shadows, I notice they are all adults. W... Read more >

The Psychedelic Society of Bristol is delighted to present an evening where fools and jesters tell truth to power. How can we access altered states through performance and drama? How is silliness and improvisation related to shamanism and ritual space? Can we actually be the change we want to see in the world?

Joining us to offer their performances, practice, ponderances and pratfalls will be:

---

DESPERATE MEN
Read more >

Hello! In this blog you'll get to read some of the theory underpinning The Inner Critic Inquiry as well as detailed instructions about how to safely explore your own Inner Critic. Enjoy!

The theory

Its week three of my 8-week Inner Critic Inquiry course and it just so happens to be Samhain (pronounced sah-ween), the pagan solstice festival, marking the end of the harvest and... Read more >

Roll up, roll up, take your seats for a once in a lifetime experience, It's the Curious Clown Cabaret!

Feauturing 10 live and dangerous clowns, doing whatever they want. For you. Expect the unexpected!

This is the finale of Holly Stoppit's 10 week Clown To Performance course. These 10 idiots have travelled deep into the state of clown together, becoming braver, wilder, stupider and more connected as the leaves... Read more >

I'm in the current edition of The Spark Magazine!!! AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDD.... I've been on Made In Bristol TV!!!

Holly in Print

The Spark Magazine is Bristol's finest alternative listings paper and it's back in print after a three-year lull. The article, titled "You're having A Laugh!" is about the benefits of clowning and laughter yoga for health and well being. Hannah Vickers interviewed both laughter yoga guru, Joe Hoare and me to get our unique takes on... Read more >

If you're in Bristol this Saturday night, you're in for a treat!  Liz Clarke will be bringing Cannonballista, her explosive new solo show, back to the place where we made it, the wonderfully quirky, original featured, ex-working men's club, The Brunswick Club! For one night only!!!

Here's Liz talking about the show in an interview with Theatre Bristol:

"Cannonballista is a show about grief, coping mechanisms and superhero alter egos! It brings together sheds, can... Read more >

Wowsers, what an incredible week's training with the fools of Beyond The Ridiculous!

All 12 fools have been split down into their component parts and reassembled ready to play for you at The Wardrobe Theatre all weekend, starting tonight!

We don't know which parts of us will turn up or what they will do or say, but each fool now has a cast of stock characters they can drop into at any moment; there are inner... Read more >

Oh happy days! The fools of Beyond The Ridiculous are gathering for a week of intensive training leading up to three shows at The Wardrobe Theatre as part of Circus City festival (13th, 14th and 15th October).

It's such a pleasure to be back in the company of the most wond... Read more >

Artist Jenny Drew captured Beyond The Ridiculous host, Holly Stoppit negotiating with the audience during our last run. 

Fooling is a unique form of solo improvisation, where the performers respond to what's happening in the room as well as what's happening inside themselves. 

When you come to see the show, prepare to be part of the experience!

"REAL en... Read more >