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This chapter takes an historical and cross-cultural approach to the development of the clown in circus in Europe and the USA. It explores the points of connection and difference in the way clowning developed as the scale of circus expanded and contracted in these regions. For example, the creation of the three-ring circus in the USA placed particular performance demands on the clowns in terms of both run-ins and entrées which were quite different to the challenges faced by clowns in Europe and the United Kingdom. These demands influenced the costume and make-up of the clowns as well as the performance strategies used. The development of new circus/nouveau cirque from the 1970s onwards created new opportunities for clowns in terms of scale and style of performance, which are also examined here.

This chapter focuses on establishing taxonomy of clown types and the nature of their play which will provide a reference point for the analyses of clown performance which follow. The Auguste, Whiteface and Tramp have long been familiar in the world of circus and these types and their variants, therefore, provide a good starting point for exploring clowning. Circus, and by extension clowning, is not and never has been a primarily verbal form. It has also long been a nomadic form with circuses touring the world in search of new audiences. The circus clown sometimes interrupts other acts and thus transgresses performative conventions, except that ironically this transgression is so well-established in the circus that it has almost become an expected mode of behaviour for clowns. Clowns employ a variety of techniques for disturbing the usual linguistic modes of communication current in any society. Within the frame of simple clown a boss clown may emerge.