Bastards, Arse-Lickers & Eternal Lovers

Today for autocourse we had to present one or more of a really nice eternal love person, an arse-licker suck-up, and a really nasty bastard. 

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Mark was great as the demented unemployed guy who spoke like a constipated-croaky-frog about how “muslim’s can fuck off.” Philippe asked Mark a bunch of questions about his girlfriend and got Mark to speak to him just as himself, and then when Philippe hit his drum, to speak as his Bouffon. “You and the character are not far away from each other.” It should be an instantaneous switch.

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Ben was very funny as his transvestite sitting on a sun-chair fishing with a stick to the music Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours (aka as the tune to Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh").

However it wasn't clear he was mocking anybody. It was just Ben being funny. "Funny...but not Bouffon."

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I presented an overly positive motivational speaker. 

Philippe got me to change between the motivational text, and Iago (improvised, as I've forgotten the text). It was good for Iago -smiley and manipulative - although not as good without the real text. At the end Philippe asked what my characters was (a nasty, nice, or arse-licker) and I said nice - but he said no no he's definitely an arse-licker.

Whereas afterwards I showed another character I'd put together of a made-up effeminate gay version of Michael Jackson's PA. 

The actual guy.

My text was around how much I love and respect Michael for his work...but Philippe said this one was "just an idiot...we don't see him calculate."

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André, dressed like a homeless man, said a speech of Pauline Hanson's. It was fantastic! Funny, shocking, and best of all - absolutely real.

He said it with an imitation of her voice and rhythms, which involved a bit of mouth and nose scrunching, but nothing else. Philippe wanted André to build it in intensity, and got Thomas to drum to help him. By the end André was screaming at the top of his lungs about how Australia needs to stop helping out the Aboriginals so that they will learn to fend for themselves.

I was amazed by the simplicity of this performance, and how effective it was. I'd like to make a show like this. A show called Politically Speaking - featuring the real speeches of various historical political figures from around the world - done in a Bouffon way.

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Katy, dressed like a classy man, presented her eternal love angel character, but Philippe said "we see you are a gangster." We didn't believe she was sincere. Philippe worked with her, and by the end, had Katy speaking about how fantastic her country is whilst a bunch of us to sang In America behind her.

And then at the end Charles came forward as a homeless guy and sang a verse of In America and gave the opposite.

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Akron presented another really great strange scene.

“We don’t know where exactly it’s going, but we like him...As a beginning of a show, it’s good.”

“You are bizarre...but it’s good to be bizarre.”

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And Lee, dressed as a transvestite, ended the day with an amazing improvisation as an idiot. He got up on stage and was heading for the wings when Philippe started asking Lee questions about his life and what happened with his ex-girlfriend. Lee was open and playful, a bit of a dork, awkward - absolutely lovable. He was light, and witty, and very funny. And then after about 15 minutes Philippe suggested Lee do the scene he was planning to do. And Lee expressed fear that if he did an entrance the great vibe would disappear.

Lee: "I feel like I've got that good energy around me. What's that called?"


Audience members: "Aura".


Lee: "Nah I'm not a hippy."


The aura did disappear, but not for long. It was so funny seeing him deal with the flop. And he did with such spirit. He even ended up saying to Philippe "it's difficult to work with you." We were all in hysterics. He was with us, and he was beautiful.

“This one - if you sell it with something in your lemon - it’s fantastic.”

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It was a really great class today. The atmosphere was buzzing - most of the first years were in class too - and everybody who got up did something great. A good end to the week!