Award-winning circus clown ends 11-year hiatus by performing stint at Billing Aquadrome
An award-winning circus clown is ending his 11-year hiatus by performing a five-week stint at Northampton’s Billing Aquadrome.
Lloyd Reed has spent more than a decade out of the circus ring but is entertaining audiences once again this summer, with the goal of changing perceptions of clowns.
Despite being one of the few Auguste clowns currently performing in the UK circus industry following the rise of minimalism, Lloyd hopes to become a family favourite.
Lloyd’s partner Colette Pote told the Chronicle & Echo that she met him at school and even at 11 years old, all Lloyd ever wanted to do when he was older was perform – and he was often told off for his practical jokes as the class clown.
Lloyd got his big break with Billy Smarts Circus and went on to have a successful career travelling and performing with some of Europe’s finest circuses.
Lloyd was first introduced to the circus at just three years old and during the visit, his mum bought him a clown mask. As he had a clear interest from the start, he was taken to lots of circuses during his childhood.
Years later, Lloyd was taken to a clown convention and started to refine his make-up – before he began to host kids parties at his mum’s play group. He took a job at a circus in 1993 and Lloyd’s career “exploded” from there.
Lloyd began his 11-year hiatus when he and Colette decided it was time to settle down and get their own place, which is when he set up his entertainment company.
Clumsy Entertainment expanded from the kids shows and parties that Lloyd offered and with the success he experienced in 2014, he had no reason to go back to clowning for the 11 years to follow.
That was until now, when he was offered an opportunity he could not refuse to be part of the five-week stint at Billing Aquadrome’s circus as the main clown.
“The timing is perfect,” Lloyd told the Chronicle & Echo. “I’m doing what I love again and I wanted to come back. It’s like I never left.”
Lloyd is going to try and weave clowning into his work again following his time at Billing Aquadrome, and says he has received a “bonkers” response to his return.
He has had an overwhelming amount of positive messages, including from those he has not heard from in decades.
“There aren’t many clowns with big make up left,” said Lloyd. “Everyone is a minimalist, it’s a real shame. It will come back. Clowns with big make up is something special, it’s a rarity.”
Lloyd is proud to try new things and how he wins people over who are scared of clowns. He continues to respect boundaries in the circus tent and work with willing audience participants.