This month at Clown Town, we’re thrilled to welcome the legendary Toni Morkel—veteran improviser, actor, director, and teacher—for a dynamic session on Clown / Chorus / Complicité. We will explore principles of complicité, group play and chorus. Using improv as the foundation, Toni brings decades of experience, drawing on the ensemble-based methods of John Wright. Whether you're a clown-curious newbie or a seasoned fool, this workshop is for you.
After visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the last 2 years, Sophie Joans had a dream: to make clowning as popular in South Africa as it is “up North”.
This unique style of comedy embraces the art of failure, and after hosting their first workshop in Dec 2024, Clown Town has grown into CPT’s unofficial weekly clown school, with over 40 members in their ever-growing whatsapp group.
Toni’s first love in theatre is workshopping and co-creating through improvisation. She also works as a director, actor and teacher.
Toni’s directorial work includes Firefly with Andrew Buckland and Sylvaine Strike; Balloonacy with Craig Morris for NCT and The Agents, with Roberto Pombo and Co; Op die Hoek van Styx and River… with Sandra Prinsloo and David Viviers and most recently I Can Buy Myself Flowers with Erika Breytenbach, written by Mike van Graan.
Toni’s theatre appearances include her solo show Cottonwool Kid, directed by Sylvaine Strike, (Naledi nomination for best independent theatre production); The Boy who Cried Ninja for Contagious Theatre (Naledi nomination for best performer in a show for young audiences); Tobacco, and the Harmful Effects Thereof with Andrew Buckland, directed by Sylvaine Strike (Naledi nomination for Best Supporting Actress); Izithombe 2094 directed by Alex Halligey; Hearts Hotel directed by James Cuningham; Roach directed by Khutjo Green; The Last Show with Roberto Pombo, directed by Jemma Kahn; The Merry Wives of Zuma written and directed by Pieter Dirk Uys; Jenine Collocott’s High Diving; Grimm Tales at the Market Theatre (Naledi nomination for Best Female Comedy Performance); The Fortune Cookie Theatre Company’s Coupé and The Travellers. Amongst others.
Toni began improvising with the Gauteng Theatresports Company based at The Market Theatre Laboratory in 1993. In 2009 she and Roberto Pombo co- founded Causing a Scene, the Johannesburg based improvisation group. Toni entered the world of theatre, after completing her studies in Fine Arts, first through Costume Arts, and then she joined The Handspring Puppet Company for 3 years where she trained as a performer and puppeteer and gained invaluable experience in theatre making.