“We Are Fishing For Your Humanity.”

We began with two more autocourse presentations today. One in which a gang of Bouffons came in crying around a shopping trolley covered in black cloth, and with a priest leading them in prayer. They were crying over the death of a young boy. Then the boy (Michael) appeared from underneath the black and said “I’m not dead, I’m gay...it’s better this way.” They burst into laughter and then left the stage whilst quietly saying “fuck you”. 

Philippe wasn’t happy with the fact that the priest (Duncan) was dressed like a priest, and got him to change back into normal Bouffon attire. He got him to say the priest text again, but fast and with a speech impediment, whilst dancing. In this way, it was definitely more interesting.

He also didn’t like that they had finished by saying “fuck you”. “If you say fuck you, it’s finished, we don’t think about you...If you leave it open, you stay in our heads.” 

And he spoke about how their piece was too much of an idea. “When we see the idea too clear, it’s not so well done.”

There was also scene presented involving Akron, Christine, and Lee. It involved electrotherapy, and was kind of in the style of children’s theatre. But it was bad. “We don’t love any actor...They are not a band together.”

~

We then did an exercise in which we mocked noble people. French aristocracy. People who could say, whilst walking through their castle, that they couldn’t ever fall in love with some body from another social class...they lack the sophistication...the education...the history...the decadence.

Like Eton College students...

Mark and Sophia got up first and were great. For British, these kind of people are a reality, whereas from where I’m from, they don’t exist. We have ‘nouveau-riche’, but not people who have been saving for centuries. I got up with Ben and we were totally boring. Steph and Akron tried, but “the pleasure to mock [was] not enough.”

I had an idea so got up and tried it out. I sat on a chair with a pad of paper on my knee and a pen in my hand. I said in a loud voice “Dear Daddy...this year...for my birthday...I would like...your half of Indonesia.” 

The idea was not bad, but Philippe killed me for being “fucking fucking fucking fucking heavy.” But he then worked with me! He got me a table and a glass to go on the table (and would have had a lamp on the table too if we could find one). And he got me to write with the pen, and pick up the glass of water, with real grace and sophistication. And he got me to say my text in a romantic voice like Grace Kelly.

He wasn’t happy with my romantic voice, so he got several others to do my voice from the audience whilst I lip synced. Then he got me to sing Que Sera Sera in the voice of Sam from Australia, but not to push too much with the mocking.

And then to say/sing my text to the same tune. And finally he got me to pretend to be gay and to write a letter about being gay. Still speaking/singing, with a higher, softer voice. My improvised letter was to a friend asking him for advice, as I was afraid that if I told my father I was gay he wouldn’t love me anymore.  And he led me to walk backwards and offstage slowly as I finished my song.

I was happy with how I worked here. I was sensitive, and feeling for how to make it work. “You don’t push too much...that is good.” And I like the idea. I think it could be a good number. However Philippe said “we don’t see him so well” - meaning my costume. He didn’t like the moustache I’ve been wearing, and he said I had too much dark makeup on. You couldn’t see my face. 

~

Mark also got up to try a go solo. He started off talking about how he’d recently gone to a foreign country (let’s say Dubai?) and just how amazing it was. Great service. So cheap. But you get the idea that he’s totally skipped noticing how poor and desperate everybody are around him. He wasn’t quite energetic enough with what he was playing to make it work though. Philippe then led him to play a heavily handicapped guy, with Mia sitting on his lap. To play happy, but confused. “He can shout, laugh, and cry.” And for him to say the ‘Greetings text’ in this way.

After being worked with, Mark asked about what Philippe did with him, and whether it was Bouffon. Philippe said what he did was “not for Bouffon but for the humanity of the actor.”

“We are fishing for your humanity.”

He said he saw something and so he went in that way. And he spoke about what he did with me too. 

“Guy - in my head - he could be precious like Louis 14th...he could be Bouffon really camp.”

“Guy, I’m sure you could be a fantastic transvestite of today.” I’ll try this soon, as next week we are going to Bouffons of today.

~

“We never know for what we are looking. We know we are not happy with what we see. But where we could go, we don’t know.”

“The person with whom you work is always more surprising than you think.”

~

I asked a question at the end of class about whether with Bouffon it’s necessary to shock with vulgar things. This is something I’ve been wondering about, since it seemed earlier on like it was good to be vulgar (like when we all had an orgy on stage), but then yesterday Sophia and I were vulgar and it bombed. I also feel like it’s easy to be vulgar but I’m not sure whether I like it. I don’t really. Philippe said “you don’t have to shock all the time” and said it depends on your tactic - to say how much of a bastard your subject is - and that you could spend twenty minutes being lovely as tactic...and then BAM! Hit them with something that knocks the over.

“The Bouffon - he doesn’t go to this vulgarity...he’s not Las Vegas.”

“They are beautiful...and you have to make them beautiful.”