WELCOME

BOOK

A new book about actors, musicians, clowns and fools by Michael Evans & Johnny Melville

The Plandemic gave me the opportunity to down tools from performing as performer but instead of becoming frantic about the lockdowns like many people I concentrated on a more positive line and sat to co-write this book. It was a fruitful and entertaining time as I lived back thirty, forty and fifty years of experiences that I would have never have traded for much else in my life. It was challenging and exhausting in many ways since any book which requires accurate archiving needs absolutely correct information.

Here below are a list of reviews from readers, clown and fool performers & the press.

Amazing, amzing book….!

HELEN LANNIGAN (Director of ‘Mime-London’) 2/6/2023

A wonderful book was published last year, written by Johnny Melville and Michael Evans – Amsterdam’s Compleat Fools: Full colour programs from all of Amsterdam’s Festival of Fools between 1975 and 1984, plus more. It was a real labour of love for them and records the work of so many clowns who performed at that time. Happily, it also features London International Mime Festival !

JOAN MERWYN on Barnes & Noble (click for full review) July 2022

This book ought to be available in every library in the US and abroad; it should be in Lincoln Center archives; it needs to be made available to all people and researchers who have a passion for the performing arts and who are interested in contemporary, theatrical, boundary-dissolving innovation and experimentation, which exploded onto the scene during the final decades of the 20th century.

ADAM GERTSACOV on his Personal Blog (click for full review) November 2022

For anyone who wants to know what the burgeoning clown/mime scene was like in the 1970’s (especially in Europe, although a fair amount of American performers are also represented) this book is a must read.  It is thorough, fascinating, and entertaining. The book is clearly a labor of love by the two authors, and not just a love of the festival itself, but a love of the performers and a love of the audiences- the thousands of people who experienced the Fools Festival over the years, and who would want to know more. In short, this is a fantastic look into the history of clowning, physical comedy, almost 50 years ago. You should definitely pick it up!

Dr. SUSAN CROFT on the Unfinished Histories Newsletter(click for full review) May 2023

…in contrast to many high-priced volumes from the academic sector (this book) offers huge value for its price tag. It is copiously illustrated, providing complete digitised reproductions of every programme for Amsterdam’s Festival of Fools from 1975 to 1984, partly written in English, partly in Dutch, plus sketches, posters, photos, programmes, listings, street theatre permits, schedules…. This is a gift in itself, but these are introduced by lengthy fascinating essays and commentaries from Johnny Melville of Salakta Balloon Band and Michael Evans of the Salt Lake City Mime Troupe offering detailed accounts of individuals, shows, training, touring, international collaborations, that zing with life and offer some consolation for those of us who missed seeing them in their heyday.

Joan Borgman

Leafing through the pages of these archives and essays brought me back to Amsterdam to meander through familiar paths, as well as those I did not wander before.
It was thrilling to learn what the artists pursued, and the lives they are living. The connections between the work of those profiled in the ”Pack of Jokers” with the participants of the Festival of Fools truly show the network between all the fools worldwide. Whether you were there or not, if you have any interest in the history of Indoor, outdoor, theatrical, or street performance, this book is a must for your library. Thank you, Mike and Johnny, for tackling this project.

Believe me I am so amazed and happy about these critiques. We never expected such positive and glowing reactions from the highest academic profiles of theatre history that we have received here!

Please don’t delay and spend some money on what is basically the only reliable source of the history of this prolific alternative theatre movement that spawned such talented performers who later became legends of the future, even amongst the mainstream media: Avner, Leo Bassi, Jango Edwards, Mike Figgis, Lindsay Kemp, Johnny Melville, Slava Polunin, Nola Rae, Annie Stainer, Emile Wolk, and bands like The Talking Heads and others….

Contact me here to buy a book directly from us, which is cheaper here than on the Amazon page!