FOOLS THEATRE is an international performing troupe, touring since 1973, primarily in Europe, Great Britain, Canada and the United States. Today's ensemble features European stage clown Barbara Txi Hannah and musician Ross Barrett.

Founder of Fools Theatre, Barbara Txi (pronounced "chi") Hannah, also known as Txi Whizz, first came to live theatre from a visual side - lighting, set designing, building masks and props for the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Spanish/English Duo Theater. Txi studied movement and masks at Dell'Arte School of Physical Comedy; art at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design; clown with Django Edwards; dance with Canadian modern dancer Barbara Bourget and with Berkeley's Harupin Ha butoh dance company; vocal technique with Ralph Cole of the Nylons; creative processes in theatre with Eugenio Barba of Odin Theatre; and bouffon with Massimo Agostinelli.

She worked with Jane Stein to create several sets of masks and headpieces for the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and later went to Great Britain, spending ten years between London, Cambridge and Liverpool. She built shadow puppets for the Little Angel Marionette Theatre and performed three years with director Ken Campbell and the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool. Txi's visual characters and puppets have been seen and performed all over the world. Since 1983, Txi has been an important part of Wavy Gravy's Camp Winnarainbow as a performer, teacher and director.

Ross Barrett has a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia. He plays saxophone, flute, piccolo, and keyboards. Ross has a vast musical repertoire and is comfortable in many styles. He scores for films, composes for theatre, plays solo and with bands, and inspires other performers whenever he plays.

Ross performed with Gerardo Avila at the Vancouver Storytelling Festival and in Chiapas, Mexico, toured Saskatchewan with Kaleidoscope Theatre's Rudyard Kipling Stories, scored and performed a two hour performance piece with Snake in the Grass Moving Theatre for opening festivities at the Museum of Man in Hull, Quebec, co-scored and performed FALSE CREEK: A VISUAL SYMPHONY at Expo '86 with England's Welfare State International, and continues as Musical Director of Vancouver's Carnival Band, a twenty person street orchestra that plays community events, rallies and demonstrations.

Ross Barrett and Txi Whizz have been performing partners for nearly twenty years and have developed an exciting rapport with North American audiences.

Barbara Txi Hannah (Txi Whizz) and her clown characters!