Bio
ABOUT JOSE PARRA
Jose Parra is born and grows in Bilbao where he studies IT. In 2001 he moves to London where he discovers theatre to change career a few years later. At the age of 28, he begins training at the Desmond Jones School of Mime and Physical Theatre and the International School of Dramatic Corporal Mime. When he finishes after 4 years, he discovers Clown with Gerry Flanagan and continues to investigate this form with other teachers, including Mick Barnfather (Ecole Philippe Gaulier). In 2008 he discovers the Pochinko Clown technique with Jonathan Young, in which he specialises.
From 2010 to 2020 he works with different companies for adults and family audiences. He performs in a wide variety of festivals and settings: Stroossefestival (Luxembourg), Festival Danse (France), Festival of Social Science (University of Holloway), Amman Children's Museum (Jordan), International Conference on Body Psychotherapy, Brighton Fringe, Reading Fringe, Bath Fringe and the London International Clown Festival among others.
Since 2012 he has been a member of Moving Pieces, which show Total Eclipse was acclaimed as a ‘masterpiece of physical theatre’ at Brighton Fringe in 2018. Recently he has just finished the making of his first solo show, Tomatoes Don’t Fly, in collaboration with Jamie Wood and supported by the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts of the University of Falmouth.
Also, he has worked professionally as a Giggle Doctor for 15 years for Theodora Chidren’s Charlity, first in the UK and since 2022 in Barcelona where he now lives.
ABOUT MY WORK
I like to create unique and peculiar solo shows that talk about personal experiences but are relevant and accessible to others. I want to invite the audience to go on an emotional journey during which they can all see something of themselves and laugh together in a moment of shared humanity. My shows are based on aspects of my life that I often find conflicting and difficult. It is the way we fall that makes us all unique.
I like to approach the making of a show with curiosity and courage. When I begin that process I don’t aim at a particular form but what emerges reflects my training in physical theatre, corporeal mime and the Pochinko technique of clown.
