BBC Documentaries

Clowns (2008x95)

Date de diffusion: Avr 08, 2008

Daisy Asquith investigates the mysterious world of children's entertainers. The idea for the film came to her whilst on a typical seaside holiday where a different children's entertainer would set up in the hotel ballroom at six o'clock each evening and perform a different act. From animal petting to sea shanties to balloon buffoonery, it seemed an almost thankless task. Kids screaming, crying, badgering and demanding whilst performers attempted to maintain their professional cool and pull yet another hankie from their sleeve or fall face down again, knowing it's guaranteed to make a four-year-old laugh. She started to wonder who these people were, how they ended up here, whether this was their life-long ambition and how they knew what the children wanted. Then those creeping doubts and stereotypical fears stated to rear their ugly heads: don't you have to be a bit weird to do this sort of thing, are they all failed adult entertainers and do they all still live with their mothers? Back home, Daisy started to investigate further and soon found all her preconceptions challenged in a world of pirates and pumpkins, comedy handshakes and rabbits in hats. This is a film about what she found.