20.03.2024
Tweedy the clown is well-known for his 15-year tenure at Giffords Circus and renowned for his physical comedy and slapstick prowess. He has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to circus and the community. He plays Bottom and is comedy advisor for a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at York Theatre Royal from April 09-13.
How did you get your name Tweedy, and how did your trademark red tuft come about?
My last name is Digweed, when I first joined the circus (Zippo’s Circus) I called myself Weedy the clown but I was told there was already a Weedy so the boss of the circus (Zippo) suggested adding a T to make it Tweedy. It just felt right and had a Scottish connection too.
When I first started I wore big traditional make up big shoes etc, I never really liked wigs so died all my hair red. During a show I did a routine where I’d fall into a birthday cake. I’d lie there for a really long time, I found it got good laughs just to lie there. One day however the candles didn’t go out, I was lying there thinking this is getting a bigger reaction that usual, I then smelt singed hair and realised my hair was on fire. Luckily I wasn’t hurt, all that was left was a red tuft which I really liked the look of so I kept it. I like to think of it as a modern equivalent of a red nose as I no longer where a clown nose.
Is this your first Shakespeare production? Are you prepared for endless jokes about people seeing your Bottom?
This is my first performing production of a Shakespeare play, I have directed comedy for Redshift Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing a long time ago. I am armed and ready for endless Bottom jokes.
As well as playing Bottom you are ‘comedy advisor’ on a production the director wants to be ‘an accessible Shakespeare show that will appeal to a present day audience’- are you going to rewrite Shakespeare with added physical comedy and slapstick?
The beauty of physical comedy is you don’t need to rewrite anything you just add slapstick to what’s already there. As a clown I find physical comedy appeals to all ages and generations, so I’m excited to add this element to the production.
Tell us about the prospect of working again with Jeremy Stockwell, first on Waiting for Godot and now A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he plays Puck.
Jeremy and I come from similar backgrounds, we love to play and draw the audiences in so they feel involved and of course create mischief, so really looking forward to having lots of fun.
How old were you when you saw your first circus and what was your reaction?
I was about five I think. I loved the clowns, it’s always been about the clowns but not just circus, movie clowns like Laurel and Hardy, and theatre clowns. I was always more drawn to the theatre and music hall clowns but circus was the only place really I could go to learn.
You’ve spent 15 years as a clown with Giffords Circus, how did you get your first job as a clown?
The first circus I joined was Zippo’s Circus. I was due to do a course in clowning at Bristol when the school went bust so as personal research (no google back then) I sent out questionnaires to any clown I could get the address of. I got two back, one from a clown in a show Cirque Du Soleil which I’d never heard of, and one from Zippo of Zippo’s Circus. He answered my questionnaire and put at the bottom “The best way to learn is on the road from other clowns and by doing it” he then offered me a job as a publicity clown, doing school shows, hospital visits and handing out fliers in the street. The first week the main clown got stuck in traffic so I jumped in and covered. I was then offered a job in the circus as a proper clown.
As well as touring your own show, clowning around in other circuses and playing pantomime dame in Cheltenham, you’ve been a comic stuntman at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris – how was that experience?
It was a really interesting experience as most of the cast were real cowboys and Native Americans with no performing experience, the main characters were actors.
They were confused when I first joined as I couldn’t really ride very well and they were all probably born on the saddle of a horse. After my first show where I did lots of slapstick they understood why I’d been hired to be on the show and taught me to ride better and to trick ride. It was loads of fun, I got paid extra for stunts so would be forever inventing new ways to fall off a horse or be dragged behind a stagecoach.
You once said about being a clown that “I feel I was born to do it; I love it and can’t imagine not doing it”. Surely there must be a downside about life as a clown.
There certainly is, DIY is a nightmare and I constantly break things. I often have an inner dialogue of not now, this would be great if I was on stage. But it’s a small price to pay.
How did you feel receiving a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to circus and the local community in the honours list?
Initially confused, I nearly didn’t get it. For some reason they couldn’t get hold of me to accept it so they phoned my agent who thought it was a joke. By the time I got the email to accept, the deadline had passed. Lucky they didn’t stick to the deadline. When it was announced I felt very proud, it’s not something as a clown I expected. It’s also good news for circus as it’s the first time it’s been specifically for circus opposed to entertainment.
Interview by Steve Pratt
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, York Theatre Royal, 09-13 April.
Box office 01904 623568 | yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Sign Up to Our Emails
Stay In The Loop
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cf_use_ob | past | Cloudflare sets this cookie to improve page load times and to disallow any security restrictions based on the visitor's IP address. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | CookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
_dc_gtm_UA-* | 1 minute | Google Analytics sets this cookie to load the Google Analytics script tag. |
yt-player-bandwidth | never | The yt-player-bandwidth cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences and settings, particularly related to bandwidth and streaming quality on YouTube. |
yt-player-headers-readable | never | The yt-player-headers-readable cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences related to video playback and interface, enhancing the user's viewing experience. |
yt-remote-cast-available | session | The yt-remote-cast-available cookie is used to store the user's preferences regarding whether casting is available on their YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-cast-installed | session | The yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-fast-check-period | session | The yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos. |
yt-remote-session-app | session | The yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-session-name | session | The yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY | never | The cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
SRM_B | 1 year 24 days | Used by Microsoft Advertising as a unique ID for visitors. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_clck | 1 year | Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to retain the browser's Clarity User ID and settings exclusive to that website. This guarantees that actions taken during subsequent visits to the same website will be linked to the same user ID. |
_clsk | 1 day | Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to store and consolidate a user's pageviews into a single session recording. |
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_* | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views. |
_ga_GJDC5XBVGP | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_UA-* | 1 minute | Google Analytics sets this cookie for user behaviour tracking. |
_gat_UA-91938992-12 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
CLID | 1 year | Microsoft Clarity set this cookie to store information about how visitors interact with the website. The cookie helps to provide an analysis report. The data collection includes the number of visitors, where they visit the website, and the pages visited. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
iutk | 5 months 27 days | This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products. |
MR | 7 days | This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes. |
SM | session | Microsoft Clarity cookie set this cookie for synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains. |
vuid | 2 years | Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_dlt | 1 day | Zendesk set this cookie to create a unique ID for the session. This enables the website to collect data on visitor behaviour for statistical purposes. |
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
ANONCHK | 10 minutes | The ANONCHK cookie, set by Bing, is used to store a user's session ID and verify ads' clicks on the Bing search engine. The cookie helps in reporting and personalization as well. |
fr | 3 months | Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
MUID | 1 year 24 days | Bing sets this cookie to recognise unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations. |
test_cookie | past | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | 6 months | YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt.innertube::nextId | never | YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
yt.innertube::requests | never | YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_cfuvid | session | Description is currently not available. |
_dc_gtm_UA-741924-7 | 1 minute | No description |
cf_clearance | 1 year | Description is currently not available. |
CookieDetection | session | No description available. |
SessionId | session | Description is currently not available. |