Five clowns cause chaos in a library for the Chichester Fringe

The answer is in Shhh… Obey, a new piece of theatre from University of Chichester theatre students Oliver Baughan, Bertie Bond, Clare Costa, Summer Difford and Rose Pontin.

Together they are Quiet Chaos Collective, and they will be in action on Wednesday, June 11 from 18:30-19:00 at Chichester City Arts Centre as part of this year’s Chichester Fringe.

As they say, in a place where rules are sacred, they need to be broken and these clowns just love breaking things. In a world obsessed with power, are we all powerless? Prepare for chaos!

As Bertie explains: “We are all in the theatre department and we are all in our second year and in the second year we have optional modules. One was clowning and that's what we chose, and as part of the assessment the idea was to create a 15 to 20-minute performance. We formed a group together within the cohort and we put on a piece using different techniques and different clowning methods, and we managed to get to a first! We thought it went very well and we thought why don't we try to take it to the Chichester Fringe.”

As Oliver says: “You don't really see that much of clowning as an art form but you don't realise how many clowns are out there. I would define clowning as just playfulness really, utilising your whole self for comedy. It is not just your voice but your whole being and your whole charisma. In a way the voice is the least important part. You think of Mr Bean, and we took a lot of inspiration from him, from the way that he moves to the way he tells the story.”

There are plenty of people who feel slightly threatened by clowns: “But I think they are misunderstood in some ways. You see depictions of clowns in horror movies but they can be very friendly. But the thing is that people are so used to seeing clowns in the horror films.”

Bertie makes the point: “People think of lots of make-up and massive costumes but when you remove the make-up you see the humanity of the clowns, and we are connecting the human moments through the clowns.”

As for the show, Clare says: “It brings together different themes like class and dictatorship and control and power but this is set in the library and libraries are seen as places that are very law-abiding... so it's very interesting to bring five clowns into a library and to see what happens!”

Summer hopes the group will continue: “I would like to think that we will exist as an ensemble in the future and maybe take shows to more fringes. We are already adapting our assessment piece to make it longer and change the story.

“We just get on very well. We find that we work together well and we have a similar sense of play. Whenever any of us comes up with an idea, we just try it. Clowning can be quite a vulnerable thing. You are trying to make people laugh. Sometimes the jokes won't land and that can be very exposing when you are hoping it will get a laugh but at the same time when you do get a laugh it's very rewarding.”

Clare and the team are looking forward to their Chichester Fringe performance: “For most of us it will be our first-ever professional acting gig. We're just hoping to make connections with people so we might be able to do other shows. We are also learning about time management and how you pull a show together. We want the joy and inspiration to show. We are at the start of a career that we are all wanting to pursue. It's really exciting.”