The leading clown, comic actor and puppeteer, Richard Handley returns to Glastonbury with his show ‘Go Bananas.’ His shows feature hilarious, interactive and visual comedy rooted in the Commedia Del’Arte tradition. He also has an incredibly unique story of how he came to find a career in clowning beginning in the hippy paradise of Goa and featuring Hetty MacLise, Dr Penguin and a Vietnamese Refugee Camp.
Q&A with Richard Handley
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into live performance?
I am a comic actor, clown and puppeteer. I have been stumbling around this planet in a foolish manner for a considerable amount of time. Way back when Goa was a hippy paradise and you had to get there by steamboat from Bombay I spent a winter breaking free of conditioning. I had plenty of time so I made some juggling balls myself and practised under the palm trees.
Then I met Hetty MacLise the famous ‘Witch of Katmandu’ who was on holiday with her son Ossian. He was 18 at the time and training to be a Buddhist Lama in Sikkim India. Under his orders, Hetty collected me and my friends who were all at that time a bit spaced out by Goa and whisked us off to Katmandu. Here I met Dr Penguin and his Magic Circus who had just been kicked out of Singapore for making jokes about the President, Lee Kuan Yu.
Next stop Hong Kong where I apprenticed doing my first show making comedy sound effects for the Magic Circus in a Vietnamese Refugee Camp with hundreds of children hungry for fun. Then followed lots of experience on the job.
After a trip to Tibet doing shows in the villages, it was time to do some formal training back in Europe at Desmond Jones School of Mime, Fool Time and Italian School of Comic Acting.
What’s it like to be performing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival and what can you tell us about your plans for the show and how you approach a festival like this?
It’s great to be back at Glastonbury performing and always a challenge. My plans for the show are based around trying to be more inventive unusual, off-the-wall bohemian experimental. This is an opportunity to play, to be non-commercial. The standard routines are not enough here!
So the approach is: let’s get ready for an intelligent audience where you can also be loose and a little wild.
Will you be checking out any other acts across the weekend?
For sure, I will be checking out lots of acts in the Circus Theatre Field. I like to wander around and stumble across amazing shows by chance. The same for the music. I will be looking in the smaller venues and finding ‘happenings’.
