

the Way of the Showman
Captain Frodo
Philosophical and esoteric perspectives from a modern day Showman. Each season is different in its approach. S1 is essays. S2 is one book length attempt at Understanding Showmanship, S3 is conversations with remarkable Showfolk. The brand new Season 4 explores the relationship between Showmanship and Play.The host, Captain Frodo, internationally renowned circus performer, director, writer, husband and dad lays out, in great detail, his practical performance philosophy for performers who seek to deepen the conversation with their audiences and themselves. You can find him, and more of his writing at: www.thewayoftheshowman.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 27, 2022 • 2h 8min
65 - Jay Gilligan & Frodo - Reflections on Realising REFLEX
In this episode I get into a conversation with Jay Gilligan about the process of taking a show from idea to reality. It is very different to sit around and talk on facetime or messenger and shape and create a show, its very different when you pack all of your stuff into forteen suitcases and then have to get yourself to the airport and fly from Sweden to America. This and so much more we get into in this conversation abour converting dreams, hopes and imagination into reality....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Dec 13, 2022 • 53min
64 - Creating New Realities - theWay 35
In this episode I have a conversation with myself about shows as authentic dialogic creations. By looking at what a dialogue is and about what happens when we engage in a real conversation I believe we can glean some valuable insights that can be powerful when used in our Shows."Only by connecting with another person, face to face, and by wholeheartedly engaging with ideas, by asking the questions that arise in you as the idea develops in concert between the dialoguing parties can living truth be arrived at."...If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Nov 29, 2022 • 48min
63 - Shows Made us Human - theWay 34
This is a rebuttal to all those who think art is something which is not necesarry. That it is something which we can do without. In one sense they migth be right. You can live without art, survivive, but can you thrive? I don't think so. And I don't think we would have gotten to where we are now, meaning I don't think we would have become humans without Shows, without showing, without art....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Nov 15, 2022 • 30min
62 - the Showman's Two Homes - theWay33
In todays episode we get reaquainted with the two homes which any true performer and Showman inhabits. For the Showman lives his life in the Outer Geography but much of what he does there is planning and scheming and preparing the Acts and Material which will allow him to get to his ellusive and hard to get to second home...links:here is a very cool show featuring Mortenn - its in Danish, but flip on the subtitles and enjoy his very sweet and particular kind of crazy.This is a showreel for Nick Difatte who had me laughing so hard I cried! Not only funny but such a great guy to hang out with!This is a link to a show with Charlie Caper and Malin Nilsson. It's not Minor Miracles, but a streamed 40 min show wich aired during the pandemic. This will at least give you the flavour of their brand of magic.and here is a link to a cool little short film with Mario the Maker Magician and his robot friend Mr Lamp....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Nov 1, 2022 • 57min
61 - Exclusively Human? - theWay 32
Are Shows exlusively human phenomena? Are the artful creations of other animals the same as what we human's think of as art? and is the artful behaviour of animals related to, as in the actual evolutionary antecedent of human art? ...If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Oct 18, 2022 • 31min
60 - the Show: a Creation Story - theWay 31
We are moving into the realm of Shows, the fourth and final element of Showmanship. Shows are what Showfolk does. It is the doing which makes someone a Showman, it is the axel upon which all turns. To show how deep it is and important it is in the "mythology" of Showmanship I take a stanca from the Illuminated Showman's Manifesto about "the Showman on the market square creating a universe," and look at it next to the origin myth of my norwegian viking ancestors.Depth is interconnection. To experience something as deep is to see in it many connections to many things, the more something is networked into environment, and many thought structures and emotions the deeper we experience something to be. In my life doing shows has been one of the most fundamental and continuing things. The people I'm with, the places I reside, the journeys I make, the things I read, the things that excite me have changed, but along my Way through life, Shows have been a constant. They are deeply interwoven with my experience and idea of myself and my identity. It's this depth of connection to me I want to convery by making the creation of a show paralell with the creationg of the universe. Support the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Oct 4, 2022 • 47min
59 - Transforming Time into Showtime. - theWay 30
This episode starts by giving a practical example of how to use the three stages of Attention/Inerest we explored last episode. Its a blow by blow description of my Tennis Racket act to illustrate how the stages of Attention can be found and also how they organically weave in an out.Then I talk about the emergence of Showtime. We are remined of this use of the word and concept of Showtime from the Illuminated Showman's Manifesto and through that we learn that the ancient Greeks already named the two kinds of time. Chronos and Kairos. This is some real good and useful stuff for understanding how interconncted and meaningful the process of Showmanship is....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the showSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Sep 20, 2022 • 40min
58 - Transforming Your Audience's Attention - 29 theWay
In this episode we talk about how to make your Audience get more out of your performance. We talk about how important it is to not just to pop balloons and put stuff on fire for your whole show, but to transform the shock of Attention into something the Audience is more involved in. This is the transformation of Attention into interest. I go on to show how this can be used as a real practical tool for improving all aspects of a performance. If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the showSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Sep 6, 2022 • 19min
57 - the Murder of Mystery - A Showman's Guild Story
This episode ventures into a terrain we've not explored before. I will recount two stories, one is more of a prose poem, and one a more traditional story. Both have been lingering in the Carnival Chronicles of my Craft diaries for the longest time. The Murder of Mystery was written in 2010 and the first piece in the intro, called the Soul of the Carnival was written late 2008....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the showSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Aug 23, 2022 • 38min
56 - Curator of Time and Attention - theWay 28
This episode celebrates how great it is to work in a circus with other showfolk. Then I go on to explore what can be said to be the shared activity of all performers, what is it that a poet, a juggler, a dancer, and a teacher all have do? What part of what they do is the bit that unites them all into the sphere of the Showman archetype?Links:Maria Popova's brilliantly curated blog Brainpickings.org now called the Marginalian.Folk og Røvere i Kardemomme by or When the Robbers came to Cardamom Town.Sirkus Jesper....If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the showSupport the show...After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comYou can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo


