Gary Edwards - clowning around in the country's children's hospitals
Rob Cameron's guest in One on One this week is someone who describes himself as a "health clown". Gary Edwards really is a clown - a professionally-trained clown who wears a bright red nose, plays the tuba and falls over a lot - but he does these things in hospitals across the Czech Republic, visiting sick and terminally ill children and trying to put a smile on their faces.
Gary, when did you first realise you wanted to be a professional clown?
"Oh, I think it was when I was about ten years old, and it was just a lot of fun to make people laugh."
So it wasn't the case that you were thinking of becoming an accountant or a civil engineer or something and you suddenly changed your mind.
"Well actually I always thought I'd be a doctor. In fact I studied pre-med, and I was going to be a doctor. And I was a musician at the same time - I was always involved in music, ever since I was ten. By the time I was 14 I was playing gigs. And then I was studying, and I got really lucky - I sold a song. I made quite a bit of money, and it seemed like more money than I could make being a doctor, so I decided to study music. My parents were not too happy about that."
I can imagine!
"But now they understand. It went from music into clowning, so that's how it happened."
And how does one become a clown? Do you go to clown school?
"Yes, actually. I was studying music. I was writing musicals for the theatre department, and all of a sudden there was someone standing in front of me asking me if I would write a musical for his school. And I said - Well, OK. And he said - I can't pay you. I said - Well, you know I've never been paid for that! And he said - Well, you can have a two-year scholarship at our school, it's a private clown school. So I said - Oh, OK."
What do you learn at a clown school? I notice on your CV that your skills include juggling, hat tricks, magic, pantomime, lasso, singing saw, and you play guitar, bass, piano and tuba. And you've also brought a ukulele with you into the studio. You're quite the jack of all trades.
"Well I think a good clown needs to have a lot of skills. Actually, one thing I've noticed being in Europe is that American clowns tend to be more skill-oriented than European clowns, with the exception of Dmitri in Switzerland who is more of a musical clown, and he takes his students in that direction. But really there's that basic difference between American clowns and European clowns."
You've brought some of your clown gadgets with you - could you give me a demonstration?
"Well...[Gary makes silly noises with a number of squeaky toys]...you know, I've always got these things with me, I can't go anywhere without them, I'm sorry."
These are the tricks of the trade then.
"Yeah."
And the ukulele?
"I just started playing the ukulele about a year ago, because it's such a great instrument for the hospital, which is what I'm doing now. A guitar's too big, and of course lugging a piano around wouldn't really work."
Give us a blast on the ukulele.
"It's a really nice little instrument...[Gary plays the ukulele.]
What brought you to Prague Gary?
"What brought me to Prague...I was living in Germany at the time, and I realised that my German wasn't going to get any better, I mean it would have taken me a long time to just get a little bit better. I'd always been interested in languages. I remember being on tour once in Germany in the 80s and I had a couple of days off, and I thought - I'll go to Prague! But they wouldn't let me in because I didn't have a visa. And then when the wall came down I just decided to put everything in my little bus and drive to Prague."
Tell me about the health clown project - where did it all start?
"Michael Christianson started that, visiting hospitals in New York together with a professor at the Presbyterian hospital."
And what exactly does a health clown do?
"A health clown needs to be schooled in hospital protocol. He needs to know what he can do and can't do. It's also kind of a "one on one" situation, if I can use that phrase here!"
It's not copyrighted...
"OK, it's one on one because we don't do group shows or theatres, it's not circus, it's in a hospital room, with a patient who's usually in a bed, and you have this one on one relationship. We wear white coats like doctors and nurses, we have names like doctors and nurses, and we make fun of the whole procedure. I personally really like making fun of the nurses, and they enjoy it too. So that's what a health clown is."
Was it hard setting it up in the Czech Republic? Often things are done in a very orthodox, straightforward way here with little room for improvisation.
"Well I noticed when I first started presenting the idea a few of the head doctors in the children's wards were looking at me like - What are you talking about? So I simply said - I'll show you, it doesn't cost anything, for the hospitals it's completely free. And I never got a No."
I say that because I remember seeing a programme about you on TV. At one point you performed for the Health Minister, Marie Souckova, and she didn't seem too impressed with your antics. Was that a tough gig, performing for a member of the cabinet?
"No it wasn't, in fact it was quite fun. Actually she was quite nice. She was put in a difficult situation - I was standing with a sousaphone in her office and I gave her a rubber chicken to hold while I was making fun of the whole situation. It wasn't so easy for her I have to admit."
What's the response been like in this country to the health clown project?
"Well, let's see, I started almost exactly six years ago, and doctors and nurses here are informed, they know that these things exist in the West. And so it wasn't a completely new idea. They'd heard about it, and they were quite open and they accepted it. Every time I introduced this at a hospital they wanted me to come back and they wanted it on a regular basis. Now we have so many hospitals that want our service we can't visit them all. We just don't have the finances."
So it's definitely been a success then.
"Definitely."
You spend much of your day in the company of very sick people, mostly young children. That sounds to me like a rather depressing job - even though you are a clown, does it ever get you down too, does it make you depressed?
"No. Well, let me take it back six years. In the very beginning when I started visiting cancer wards, I had to admit I needed some time alone afterwards to assimilate the experience. Luckily I had my wife who I could talk with about it. In the meantime I've lost many patients who I've known for years; it's part of the work. You just have to see the rest of the patients and say your work has to continue. There's really no time or energy to be lost on yourself. It's about joy and laughter, and you see that coming back, regardless if they're sick or not. It's about joy, and it's fun. It really is."
