Clown Training & Creative Workshops
Training that celebrates original creative impulse and offers pathways for its expression.
“Working with John remains one of the most creatively inspiring three weeks of my life.”
– Danielle Wilson
Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts
Brock University
A Clown’s Quest:
He is best known as the Smoot half of the award-winning Canadian Clown duo Mump & Smoot. He is also the founding Artistic Director of the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance (MCCP) aka The Clown Farm, a unique facility for research, training, creation and performance in all areas of the performing arts.
While the global pandemic resulted in the closing of the doors of the Manitoulin facility, John continues with the work as an internationally sought-after teacher and coach in the fields of acting, mask, clown, and movement. John has been working virtually and has also returned to teaching in-person.
Announcement
The Clown Farm returns for a landmark documentation of the work.
We’ll be recording in person, for the very first time, in early October this year. That’s right! It’s all happening in North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The studio is booked and the class filled in just 24 hours!
For years John has wanted to document the work, but cameras can be disruptive, especially for Mask and Clown Intensive (Baby Clown) where students are immersed in the process. However, Teacher’s Perspective provides the perfect opportunity for documentation as participants are already experienced with the work and have completed prerequisite courses. This allows for the exercises to be reflected upon and discussed without compromising students’ introduction to the work. It will also allow this uniquely Canadian methodology to be shared further than was previously ever possible.
PLEASE NOTE: Enrollment for Teacher’s Perspective 2026 is currently full.
If you would like to receive notifications about future workshop (Teacher’s Perspective) dates, please reach out via our contact form and include the following details: qualifications (courses completed), aspirations in regards to the work and a resumé.
Mump & Smoot
Co-Artistic Director of Mump & Smoot, John is the “Smoot” half of the award winning clown duo that have been a hit from coast to coast for the past 36 years. Read More
Directing & Dramaturgy
John works with creators/performers who are developing and producing their own work. Read More
Pochinko Style
Clown Training
Richard Pochinko was a theatre visionary whose greatest legacy may be the Clown Through Mask Workshop, affectionately known as the Baby Clown Workshop. His work has been widely interpreted over the years.
John trained and worked with Richard and is a premier proponent of the Pochinko Technique of clown training. John has taught over 10,000 hours and 1,000 students the introductory Mask and Clown Intensive also known as Pochinko Style Baby Clown, and has taught many more at the advanced level of Clown Boot Camp, as well as through dramaturgy working with other clowns, artists, and theatre production companies.
The Critically Acclaimed
Mump & Smoot
With Mump & Smoot, John Turner has created and performed in 8 full-length shows, performing in major regional theatres across North America and in the Middle East. Mump & Smoot have won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards and two Canadian Comedy Awards and were nominated for the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in Theatre, among other industry honours including being Associate Artists at the Yale Repertory Theatre for 7 years.
Workshops
& Training
Coaching and directing applications are limitless and determined through consultation with the individual artist or theatre company.
- Pochinko Style Baby Clown
- Clown Boot Camp
- Writing from the Body
- Solo Clown Creation and Performance
- The Joey, Auguste, Ringmaster Workshop
(working in duos and trios) - The Teacher’s Perspective
Testimonials
“I spent three weeks at the Clown Farm in the summer of 2008, and when I look back I can see clearly what I felt then; it was a magical platform that sprang me into a new phase of my life and my work.”
– Aurora Browne, Baroness von Sketch Show
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