Andrew Kay: Clowning About

It’s been a funny old career. I mean very few people could list as many odd jobs as I have taken on; maybe lots of jobs, but pehaps not so varied.

I’ve worked in a hardware store, a supermarket and a greengrocer’s shop, I worked as a waiter then a chef, and then I studied graphic art. I then worked as a designer, and an art director and a creative director in publishing, magazines and video (best not to dwell on that video).

I also worked as a private chef and had a small catering business. I worked in theatre as a designer and later as a critic, too. Then I started to write, here first, and then a novel and then a play. Diversity I guess, or a lack of direction, or focus – you decide.

Ah yes, did I mention that I was a clown? Yes, for a short time I attended circus school in London and in Paris, and yes I did perform. I even ended up with my picture in a book about clowns. It was a short lived career, but one that I loved and one that cured me of being shy. Yes I was once rather shy – not now, I know.

“Diversity I guess, or a lack of direction, or focus – you decide”

I mention this because I had a message from an artist friend a few days ago about an event that he is holding in Brighton. Jake Spicer is a very talented young man, his drawings and paintings are superb, but he is also motivated and creates great life-drawing events. This is his latest, The Drawing Circus, which will merge drawing and theatre in an innovative new event at The Old Market.

The Drawing Circus, a not-for-profit organisation of artists and models, take over the entire Old Market Theatre for a promenade style, theatrical drawing event set in the main theatre and in the rooms below the building.

As nights become longer and the days darker, The Drawing Circus will conjure up the story of a circus murder in still poses, to be drawn by the audience.

Jake Spicer said: “The Drawing Circus have always used October as an opportunity to push the boundaries of the conventional life drawing class, previously putting on events for White Night and the Big Draw national drawing festival. This time around, the Grand Drawing Circus will live up to its name with 18 models posing and a live band playing specially composed music throughout.”

This isn’t just an event for people who can draw; it’s for everybody. The Drawing Circus has a long history of encouraging complete novices to pick up a pencil, so if you’ve always wanted to give drawing a go, here is your chance. The Drawing Circus will be open to anyone aged 16 and over and for people of all drawing abilities.

I must at least try to get along and combine three of my past lives; drawing, clowning and of course, theatre.

The event is part of the Big Draw and tickets can be bought via the website www.draw-brighton.co.uk or the Old Market box-office.

For more information about The Drawing Circus, visit www.thedrawingcircus.co.uk or twitter @DrawingCircus.

The Old Market, Sunday 26 October, 2pm-8pm, £25 (£15 students).

Follow me: @latestandrew