Clowns Level Up! with Peter Sweet | 4 - 9 May, 2026

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I am offering this workshop to the growing community of performers who have completed a long format clown training (2-4 weeks) and would like to play their clown and work on material in a group of other dedicated clowns. I will offer coaching and feedback, and you will benefit from playing and creating with other clowns who have been trained either by myself (Peter Sweet) or by Giovanni Fusetti.

Curious about Peter Sweet's approach to clowning? Watch this short video, featuring clowns from the most recent intensive workshop in Berlin 2024.

The Program:

Stage One: Wake up the clowns

We will begin by warming up our poetic bodies and reviewing the path back into the clown state. The main focus will be to remember your clown form and the fundamentals that bring you into play - Breath, Level of Energy and Contact. In addition to full group and small group exercises, each student will have one passage, assisted by Peter Sweet (A.K.A Monsieur Loyal) to bring your clown’s full power back to the space.

Stage Two: Play!

Once the clowns have fully “entered the building”, we will dive into play together, including clown meetings, “Yes games” and skill performances. Clowns who have never before met will have a chance to do so, and long lost clown loves and rivalries will be renewed.

Stage Three: Creation

The will be dedicated to preparing material for the stage. You will have the choice of presenting a clown number that you have been working on outside of the workshop, reworking an improv from day two of this workshop, or presenting a new proposal for a number with your clown. This is a chance to try things out in front of the workshop audience, and to receive feedback from Peter Sweet, serving as your teacher and outside eye.

Finale: Perform!

On the last day we will have a showing in the workshop space. This showing will be open to a public audience invited by the participants and Peter Sweet.

Clowns flourish together as each one shares their unique folly and wisdom with the rest. This workshop is a space of playful exchange for you to foster ongoing connections, create new collaborations and have a lot of rigorous fun together. I will be there as your teacher and guide, to support and challenge you to take your clown to the heights and depths of their potential.

Requirements for participation:

You have completed at least one clown workshop with Peter Sweet or Giovanni Fusetti of one to four weeks long.

You have a clown that you developed in the work with Peter or Giovanni whom you would like to play with in this workshop.

You remember* the movement, voice and name of your clown and either have or can reconstruct a basic costume for them to use in the workshop.

*If you feel a bit rusty or insecure about your clown… that’s fine! Welcome to being human. There will be time to review and remember the full glory of your clown.

However…

This is not a place to develop a new clown. These six days are for playing and creating with the clown that you already developed in the previous workshop. So come prepared to call them to the stage.

This is also not a place to work with a character/clown that you developed in a workshop with another teacher or on your own (even if they are awesome).

Why clowns from Peter Sweet and Giovanni Fusetti?

I have trained, mentored and collaborated with Giovanni for nearly 20 years. I was initiated into somatic clowning, first as a clown myself and then as a clown pedagog by Giovanni. While our ways of teaching clown are unique and reflect our different values and experience, we share a core approach to the work that allows clowns who have grown up in either of our workshops to have a grand time playing together.

For students coming from Giovanni’s workshops, you will have a chance to experience this rich field of work as embodied and facilitated by myself, Peter Sweet. You will also have the chance to play with clowns who are grounded (at least in part) in my approach.

For students coming from my workshops you will have a chance to play with clowns from other groups and perhaps also some who have trained with Giovanni and have been enriched by his glorious presence and pedagogy.

About the teacher: 

Peter Sweet’s embodied approach to theater combines the madness of play with the rigour of technique. He shares the most effective tools that he has discovered and developed over 25 years of performing, teaching and directing. His unique pedagogy is grounded in his long practice of the Alexander Technique, Wu Tao breath work, and a wide range of somatic and martial arts.

Peter studied physical theatre at the Helikos School in Florence under Giovanni Fusetti and Matteo Destro, contemporary dance at SEAD in Salzburg, and circus at École du Cirque Zofy (CH). He certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique at AZAT in Munich.

His solo and duo shows—including Meet Pete Sweet, Swinging High, BOOM!, and the current touring production Foolish Doom—have been performed in over 20 countries. He served as director of creation and performance in the circus department at Die Etage Berlin and is a thesis advisor and coach for the Master in Choreography at Fontys (NL). He has also taught at Stockholm University of the Arts, ZHdK in Zurich, and the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich.

Peter is currently based in Berlin, where he directs professional companies, teaches workshops and throws his heart into every project that he dives into. In his free time he reads fantasy, plays the drums, and flies kites on the Tempelhofer Feld.