Dear Seekers of the Sacred and the Surreal

As the October moon casts its silver spell, and Halloween whispers from around the corner, you are summoned to the "Divine Ridiculous"—a four-hour voyage into the heart of the absurd, held within the timeless embrace of The Lord Mayor’s Chapel in Bristol.

Picture this: an afternoon where the walls of tradition flutter like the pages of an old, forgotten script, and the air hums with the sacred madness of the holy clown. We invite you to step into a world where sacred and silly waltz hand in hand, where saints and fools swirl in a cosmic dance that shakes the very foundations of the chapel. These venerable walls will whisper with the echoes of laughter and satire, revealing the vibrant pulse of the divine absurd.

In this space, the clown emerges not just as a jester but as a holy disrupter —a mirror to the shadowy corners of religion’s history. With a sharp wit and a fearless heart, the clown highlights the darker edges of faith: its hypocrisy, its colonial legacy, and the often-unspoken fractures in its moral veneer. Through satire and play, we will confront these shadows with honesty and humor, unraveling the tangled web of doctrine and tradition to reveal a more human, fallible spirituality.

This workshop is a tantalizing taste of what lies beyond the ordinary — a brief, intense glimpse into the boundless possibilities where theatricality and spirituality intertwine. As we journey together, we’ll share fleeting fragments of the wonder that awaits when the sacred and the silly meet.

What Awaits You:

Embodied Rituals & Theatrical Magic

Prepare to awaken your inner performer to devise rituals that defy the mundane. We’ll transform the chapel into a stage where your body becomes the conduit for divine play. Through exuberant movement and spontaneous gestures, you’ll explore the sacred in ways that might just make a saint chuckle and a fool weep with joy.

Saints as Ancestral Spirits

With Halloween on our heels, we’ll delve into the essence of saints as ancestral guides. Through vibrant, poetic exploration and dramatic embodiment, we’ll connect with these revered figures, invoking their stories and spirits in a celebration of their sacred, sometimes mischievous, essence.

The Actor as Sacred Medium

 Imagine yourself not just as a performer, but as a living, breathing bridge between worlds. We’ll experiment with the actor’s role as a channel for the divine, blurring the lines between theatre and spiritual practice in a way that might place slipping on a banana skin on a par with hymnal, and laughter with prayer. Accidents can channel divine energy, blurring the boundaries. In this space, every stumble becomes a vessel for deeper connection and revelation.

*

Who Should Join?
This diverse gathering is for those with a thirst for the extraordinary, for those who dance on the edge of the mystical and the mundane. Whether you are a seasoned performer, a curious wanderer, or someone simply drawn to the divine absurdity, you are warmly welcomed. Come as you are, and bring with you the full spectrum of your wondrous self.

Why Participate?
In a world that often feels weighed down by the ordinary, "Divine Ridiculous" offers a rare opportunity to embrace the miraculous through the lens of the absurd. It’s a chance to experience the divine through laughter, movement, and a touch of theatrical madness. Because sometimes, the path to the sacred is best traveled with a grin, a jest, and a heart wide open.

*

Explore the Divine Ridiculous website to learn more about the practices and methodologies of Daniel Hernandez, one of Europe's leading sacred clown practitioners. 

To discover more about the Divine Ridiculous community of magico-artistic explorers, who collaborate on diverse projects, happenings, creative events, and publications, check out their Facebook Group.

 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  - 1 Corinthians 3:16