I wait in stillness for a reply. After a moment, the preteen boy interrupts the pause by speaking. He says, "The color is black, and the number is three." "That's right.", I say. Dr. Doohickey and I made a special effort to pause and wait for his reply. He correctly identified the three of clubs.

The young boy's mother is in a room with two doctors discussing his diagnosis. The doctor asked us to stay with this young boy in the hallway as the doctors talked to mom. This is a familiar dynamic in the unit. The doctors here use us well. It's wonderful to work with medical staff who use us this way. We began working in this unit seven years ago. This unit specializes in patients with autism. When we started working in this unit, we recognized clowning with these patients requires a specific approach. So seven years ago, we had the first of several workshops to understand better how to clown with these patients.

Our time with the boy in the hallway is going well. We are performing magic tricks for him, tricks that require attention, focus, and a sense of expectation. The young boy reacts delightfully each time the “magic "happens. He is naming the cards correctly. Meanwhile, the "magic" is making my partner, Dr. Doohickey get it wrong. Each time the boy laughs when Dr. Doo Hickey fails while the boy succeeds. Later, Dr. Doohickey makes other objects disappear and reappear. Again DooHickey is using a slow, deliberate approach setting up an expectation of what will happen next. 

The boy is amazed. With each of these tricks, we take time to explain the action slowly. This explanation is because of the patient's medical needs. He has limited ability to focus and understand. This makes the reality of him getting the magic so delightful. The doctors finish talking, the door opens. We finish our routine. The young boy returns to mom. He laughs and smiles at us and tells us he liked being tricked by the clowns.

This focus on patients' attention to detail and specificity is especially notable for me. This deliberate stillness is one of the ways of clowning for these patients. That said, This slow and deliberate approach in our clowning works well with everyone. Often in our work, we create a lot of excitement. We generate a brouhaha of activity that can crescendo into chaos: bigger movements, louder sounds, faster transitions. As fun as that can be, I like the opposite side of that spectrum—the simple, quiet, stillness. Our time with patients has made me appreciate simplicity, stillness, and attention to detail. This is the craft of clowning.

In an earlier blog post, I talked about my affection for Buster Keaton. I've always liked the specificity and stillness in his work. I strive to find that specificity of focus in my clowning. Keaton had a great sense of stillness. These pauses of silence draw us in. They make us wonder what is going to happen next. There is great power in expectation. 

I've written about Buster Keaton several times in this blog. Here and here. I'm sure I will continue to explore ways of using this stillness in my clown work as I do more with less.

A link to the Humorology Atlanta website with more information about  hospital clowning is here

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