I met the world's greatest clown, who is bringing his Slava's Snowshow to Sunderland

And see it Sunderland will, in all its spiderweb slinging, balloon bouncing glory, when the award-winning global spectacle makes its North East debut this December at Sunderland Empire.

The unique stage show returns to the UK for the first time in seven years after being seen by 14 million people in 40 countries in its 30 year history, with Sunderland just one of three locations on the tour.

To wet Wearside’s whistle for this fantastical foray into the world of a troupe of fools, I travelled to the home of performance artist Slava Polunin.

It’s a home befitting the man hailed as the world’s greatest clown: a converted yellow watermill just outside of Paris where Slava and his charismatic and creative family reside and host immersive events throughout the year - and the headquarters of The Academy of Fools, of which Slava is president.

And the first rule of The Academy of Fools? There are no rules.

A wondrous place quite unlike any home I’ve seen before, it has something to behold round every corner, in every nook and cranny, from a magical kaleidoscopic playroom filled with giant mushrooms, crescent moon day bed and a fish-shaped house boat and a pure white staircase that swirls through the house like a pillowy marshmallow to a dining table carved with a snow storm and a library housing the world’s largest collection of books about the ancient art form of fools and clowns.

It’s an insight into the avant-garde mystical mind of Slava who, born in a small town in central Russia, discovered a love of clowning and redefined it in a poetic form.

His Snowshow is the culmination of decades of what he calls “Expressive Idiotism” and features an international company of fools who bring his dream-like visual and musical extravaganza to life.

“If I could describe it with words, I would write a book,” he told me as we sat at the dining table after a hearty Russian lunch of borscht, wine and storytelling.

“That’s why I do a performance without words and you can see it on the stage. It’s all the time improvisation, fantastic scenes. One kid told me it’s better than The Fifth Element film.

“We try to make it that the grandmothers can shed a tear, the academics would be amazed by a new language and the kids would say it’s the best toy for them and at the end people play and they don’t want to leave.

“Every time we tour it’s like going to that date for the first time and if we come to a city for the first time, we definitely return as they invite us more and more.”

Speaking about his early inspiration which would lead to a hugely-successful career and way of life, the avuncular performer said: “I saw the film, The Kid by Charlie Chaplin, and it was very funny and, at the same time, very painful, and at the same time he is moving like a butterfly, like there is no law of physics and he never stops imagining things, improvising and you can never predict what he will do - and I said I want to do this.”

And so Slava walked through a door to another world - one he encourages us all to step through with him.

Like a living Santa Claus

Producer Gwenael Allan has been bringing the surreal and joyous folly of Slava’s Snowshow to audiences across the world for the past 25 years - and he says it’s a show that transcends language and generational barriers.

“Imagine going to a show where anyone of any age will feel like they’re having the best, the coolest, childhood dream they always wanted to have,” he explains. “After the show you leave with a feeling that you’ve really just woken up and become a child again and that’s really what the magic of Slava’s Snowshow does: is turn adults into those childhood dreams that they have.

“And Slava’s done that, not only over and over again across all of the main cities in the UK - except Sunderland - but all across the world, from Middle East to Asia, across South America, Broadway and the West End. It’s kind of a magic formula that he himself doesn’t know how to explain.”

Gwenael describes Slava “like a living Santa Claus”.

Not only does he look the part with his white beard, twinkling eyes and, on our visit, happened to be dressed head to toe in red, he seems to give the greatest gift of all: joy.

It’s a simple emotion and pleasure that Gwenael says helps to forge a real connection with the audience.

“It’s not circus clowning, which is just like farce. This is drama clowning and it’s a mixture of the sadness, the tragedy of life, that brings out the joy. The idea is that we need joy as a remedy to counter the tragedy, the sadness, the loneliness,” explained the producer.

“So in the show there’s really a mixture of both. There are moments of all the basic human behaviours; of fear, of friendship, of loneliness, of love, of feeling small or of feeling powerful.

“They’re all there, without any words, and that relates to people. The fact that there is the reality of laugh, it unleashes greater joy, as opposed to just fun.

“One thing that was really avant-garde about this show and remains still avant-garde, even though it’s been done a million times by other people, is that the clown is a happy anarchist: he doesn’t respect the border of the stage and the audience or the beginning and the end of the show.

“So the show is constantly in the audience, with the snow storm, the spider web, with the clowns. There’s no difference.”

Fools are embedded in British culture - a country where Slava says he feels very at home - from court jesters of ancient kingdoms to more modern day tomfoolery by the likes of Monty Python.

And Gwenael says it’s a joy to help keep that tradition alive.

“Not only is it one of the oldest art forms. It has a very strong healing power of making people suddenly feel good, simply feeling good, not understanding why, but it does that,” he said.

“It’s like a fairytale on stage and you don’t see that anymore. We used to see it a lot, for centuries and centuries, it was the old way of storytelling and this is today probably one of the only forms. There are others, but none of them have such wide appeal and such commercial success at the same time.”

I’m yet to see the Snowstorm live, but sinking into the yellow leather sofa in Slava’s den to watch previews it looks like it’s set to sweep Sunderland up in its spell in spectacular style.

Tickets

Slava’s Snowshow is at Sunderland Empire from Tuesday, December 3 to Saturday, December 7.

Performances run from Tuesday to Thursday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2.30pm, Friday at 5pm and 8.30pm and Saturday at 2.30pm and 7pm.

Tickets available at https://www.atgtickets.com