[tim]

I agree that this concept is too cliche and overdone.

What you want is human drama. Perhaps even comic drama. Something which presents the natural tension between good and evil which everyone struggles with in life.

Why not turn it the other way around? Make the clown the one who is despised. Actually, I think that is much more true to life, including historic circus life. Or perhaps the clown can be some sort of in-between who is crucial in resolving another conflict which exists in the circus.

But "twisted clowns" are just so passe. I mean, after Steven King, why would you want to even try to go the same thing again?