Roly Bain- Holy Fool

Simply, Let Us Play

Why, What & Where

What? And Where?

Roly has performed in all sorts of places.  He’s done a service in a prison chapel for six people, and he’s performed at Swindon Football ground for five thousand!  He’s done shows in theatres, where the local churches have come together.  He’s done lots of school assemblies for both primary and secondary school age, and often the local church or PTA have sponsored it.  He does missions and outdoor events.  You name it, he’s been there and done it!  Nearly every Sunday he’s somewhere in the country taking part in services.   He also leads workshops, usually in circus skills for schools, but he also leads weekend retreats and workshops and parish weekends, exploring it more deeply.  He’s clowned at lots of clergy conferences, usually being resident throughout, and turned the Diocese upside down in the process – which has usually been both necessary and healthy!  He’s opened schools and closed them!  He’s done a lot of clowning in hospitals and hospices.   He’s custard-pied ten bishops – and most were grateful, or at least happy to play!  He’s taught and performed all over the USA, and is now starting to visit Australia on a regular basis.  When he went to Cork in Eire, it was the first time the Anglican and Roman Catholic Cathedrals had done something together.  When he went to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, it was a breakthrough in ecumenical relations.  There’s something about clowns that makes extraordinary things happen, and places are never quite the same again.

 

Phone: (0)1454 616593

E-mail: roly@rolybain.co.uk

Why?

Roly’s clown is modern and circus in style, but there have always been clowns and fools in every society and there is a long tradition of holy fools in the Church.  Roly’s two models of the clown are the Jester and the Vulnerable Lover.  The Jester is the truth teller, the one who is licensed to tell the truth and the only one allowed to get away with it.  The best clowns are Vulnerable Lovers because they are relentlessly loving and playful, prepared to get hurt and to enter the vulnerable places where others dare not to tread.  The best clowns are deeply profound and speak of laughter and tears, comedy and tragedy, death and resurrection – and ultimately of the mystery and love of the God of Laughter and Tears.  They speak to us of ourselves and our deepest truths. That’s why he does it, but it’s also because he believes it’s what God wants him to be and do.  It is his vocation.

Roly walks on water!

“It was great fun and great and godly learning” Theological College Principal