WOMAD

Kevin Brooking

From United States

Biography provided by artist management, 2001:Before graduating from Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, American born Kevin Brooking worked as a circus clown in Canada, Mexico, USA, England and at Germany’s Circus Krone. Kevin has trained pigs, swallowed swords, and his talented tongue was featured on BBC television. He is a founding member of circus-theatre company Mummerandada (England) and was a prize winner at the 1985 Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. I 1989 he formed Kirk Theatre, a non-profit circus theatre unlimited company. His clown workshop ‘The Art of Accidents’ has been challenging students in universities and circus schools in North America and Europe.‘Comedy of Accidents’ isn’t just a one man clown show. With the simplest of objects Kevin Brooking brings an entire universe to life. He uses mime, circus skills, magic, and an uncanny connection with the audience to create funny, unforgettable theatre. It’s a world where chaotic metal tubes play beautiful operetta, savage ducks attack the audience, and almost real babies hatch from eggs. It’s a one-hour concert of life, death, and… carrots.REVIEWS"The world of this American artist is a comic battle between himself, nature and physical objects. The art of this musical clown is to bring out with acting, mime and illusion, different situations and characters. It seems simple but is very powerful…"24 Heures de Lausanne (Switzerland)"Playing a refugee suffering in a freezing storm, the American Kevin Brooking is moer than a clown, an illusionist and acrobat with charisma. He is a wonderful mime that establishes an easy rapport with his audience. His overflowing imagination barely controls the mutinous and rebellious objects… His stories are madly tender and abound with the hilarious and the unexpected."La Libre Belgique (Belgium)"Mime, music, juggling and magic act whom the French have compared to Chaplin and Mack Sennett (in France, there is no higher praise)."Andy Morgan, 1999