Play the Fool Festival
Sept 23-26, 2021
2021 Trailer
Festival Welcome
Greetings from U.K. performance poet Rob Gee
From The Day My Head Exploded, poems drawn from Rob’s experiences as a nurse, inpatient and writer in healthcare settings.
“Brimming with anarchistic joy… yet behind everything is a big heart. It’s typical Gee – combining gleeful subversiveness with poignant observations about the human condition.” – Victoria Times
The Day My Head Exploded is £10, plus £5 postage to Canada, which comes to £15 / about $26 CDN in total.
Welcome & thanks from the Festival Director
Can you spare a dime?
Play the Fool Festival is run by artists, for artists. Your donation will help us offer affordable, accessible programming into 2022 and beyond.
SHOWS & FEATURES
Uncle Junior Project – Jamarr Woodruff
United States
“The whole reason why I wanted to become a clown is the whole job description of a clown: That is to make people happy. And that's what I get to enjoy everyday.”
aka Jman the Clown, The Clown of Crunk
Watch the Documentary Film and Exhibit
The Uncle Junior Project is a community-driven digital exhibit celebrating the history of Black people in the American circus. It honors the achievements of the many extraordinary individuals and groups in the African-American circus community, including clowns.
Don’t forget to sign up for their free membership, donate directly, and check out the exhibit store.
Caroline Stokes
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
Instagram comedy bites
Caroline Stokes is a comedian who’s based in Edmonton but performs for the world via her online “variety show”. During the pandemic, her passion made national news and continues to be shared widely as people find comfort in her comedic, uplifting, and colourful content. Whether she’s onstage or behind a camera — she wants to make you feel GOOD.
WATCH & FOLLOW Caroline on Instagram
Magpie the Conqueror
Edmonton / AmiskwaciwâskahikanDust Bunny by Little Beasts
Victoria, B.C. Canada
Short stop motion animation
A dust bunny faces its arch nemesis in this stop motion animated short.
Click here to watch more Little Beasts
Written and Directed by Kate Braidwood and Andrew Phoenix
Lead Animation by Kate Braidwood
Little Beasts is a husband and wife team of documentary film makers who seek to reveal the lives of the tiny creatures who live out their existence in the unseen nooks and crannies of our wide world.
FB: littlebeastsstopmotion | IG: little.beasts
Tapes Last Krapp
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A short film by Jesse Buck
Inspired by the work of Sam Beckett, Tapes Last Krapp shows us an older Clown reflecting on the glory days spent in the centre ring from the darkness of his tiny home. Constructed, and shot alone, by Jesse, in a hallway, under full lockdown, during the height of the Covid epidemic… READ MORE.
Discussion Panel – Pretty Ugly: Bouffon in Pedagogy and Practice

Join Jake Tkaczyk as he facilitates a panel discussion with the phenomenal Deanna Fleysher, Ken Hall, Nathaniel Justiniano, and Janice Jo Lee about teaching and practicing bouffon. We will discuss these artists’ different approaches to this format, how bouffon functions as a teaching tool, and reasons why it can be so effective or disastrous in front of an audience. Read about the panellists & more…
Live Recording: WATCH ON YOUTUBE | WATCH ON FRINGE TV
He’s My Brother
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
A short film by Barry Bilinsky
AVAILABLE ONLINE & ON-DEMAND UNTIL OCT 3rd
Neech learns the hard way that to love is to risk it all – sometimes there just isn’t much you can do but trust the Universe to carry you through. He learns this through the unexpected (and TOTALLY not his fault) death of his precious Hydrangea. How he copes and what the circle of life has in store is another story. READ MORE…
Jesus Teaches us Things
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
A loving comedy written & performed by Rebecca Merkley
ONLINE & ON-DEMAND SEPT 24-OCT 3
Jesus Christ teaches the Holy Bible Assembly’s 2nd grade Sunday School class! What does the man who can walk on water have to say about The Good Book! The Plague? Jaywalking? Come find out! Snack provided. Eat at your own risk. READ MORE…
Good Morning Darkness
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
A crackpot comedy written & performed by Adam Keefe
ONLINE & ON-DEMAND SEPT 24-OCT 3
Are you a morning person? If you are, they won’t let me say the list of words I might mutter at that suggestion. But if you’re not, come with me… If you’ve ever wished sudden justice upon intruders to your rest and relaxation (and who hasn’t), this will be your invitation to live vicariously through an ill-tempered and fun-loving tour guide to the wrong side of the bed. READ MORE…
Hope For Life
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
Created and performed by award-winning mime Zillur Rahman John
ONLINE & ON-DEMAND SEPT 24-OCT 3
Our lives have been changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This once in a lifetime chapter saw human life filled with struggle, frustration, uncertainty, and fear. However, we will not let this define us as humans, we will not lose hope, and we will continue to fight on for humanity. READ MORE…
Inga and the Date
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
A red-nose romance written & performed by Kiana Woo
ONLINE & ON-DEMAND SEPT 24- OCT 3
Feeling fresh and looking for love, Inga finds herself on a date. She’s prepped and preened and ready to fall head over heels, but dates never really go the way you expect them to. And this date might just turn out to be the most peculiar one of all. READ MORE…
Bedeutung Krankenwagen
Edmonton / Amiskwaciwâskahikan
A LIVE bouffon seminar written & performed by Jake Tkaczyk
Herr Frölich is the world’s first German Nihilist life coach. He discovered that traffic cones make excellent megaphones. He also discovered a deep enjoyment for helping people through tough times. In this 45-minute seminar you will change in ways you never imagined. Come have a seat and learn a little about life and a lot about yourself! Batteries not included. READ MORE…
Online Workshop with Shannan Calcutt
Las Vegas, NV, USA
“Shannan is incisive and hilarious, probing and expansive. Shannan will needle your clown until you land fully into the achingly tender depths of your truth. Be prepared to cackle and cry, boo and cheer, waddle and skip.”
VIRTUAL PLAYGROUND: An interactive clown class with master teacher Shannan Calcutt (18+)
Play big, risk gloriously and fail better. This class was workshopped and designed to be experienced virtually. It’s time to bring the playground into your own home where all the props, toys, and costumes you often wish for in the studio are suddenly at your disposal. Participants must explain to housemates ahead of time that they will be noisy, move throughout the house and be free of inhibitions. It’s recess for grownups! READ MORE…