Today was the first day of Clown - an exciting time because the school (and Étampes) is full of a bunch of new people! There are only six people that have returned from the year before, and Clown has 20 people in it, and Le Jeu has two classes both of about 25. So there are around 50 new faces!
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Philippe began by telling us the story of how Clown was born. It goes something (roughly) like this:
Once upon a time there was an English couple, who lived close to where the lake where the Lochness monster dwells.
The husband was a horse rider. A great one. And he featured in popular horse shows in the area. But the king was jealous of him, so he banished the husband. So the husband started his own horse show in a tent far away. And he hired two men - a very tall big man, and a very short small man - to help with the horses. One day, whilst the horse show was in progress, the small man thought it would be funny to secretly put on the big man's pants. When the big man discovered that his pants had been taken he quickly put on the short man's pants, then took off after him. The short man, running away in a hurry, rushed through a door to escape, and found that he had just accidentally entered into the horse ring where the show was going on. The audience burst into laughter at this stunned idiot wearing pants far too big for him. Then a few moments later, the big man rushed through the same door. The audience laughed again. After the show both the men were ready to be fired, but were surprised when they were told to do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time the next night. And the next night. And the next night... Soon they became very famous and people came from all over the world to see them (and the husband and wife made love to celebrate the success of their new venture). The two men still had no idea why people found this so funny, but they did what they were told. And this was the birth of clown. Born by chance.
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A clown must make the audience laugh. That's it.
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The difference between a comic and a clown?
A comic says/does something and the audience laughs immediately.
the clown says/does something and the audience laughs 10 seconds later.
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The clown lives in the flop. It's not bad to be bad. The clown lives in the kingdom of the bad.
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A clown is never ashamed because the audience doesn't laugh. He doesn't think 'Oh no! I'm not funny!' He think's 'Ah! The audience doesn't understand the joke - I better do it for them again.'
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"When the audience is laughing the clown is around your body."
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You have to find your clown: The idiot around you.
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"Normally an actor is more intelligent than his clown...not always".
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Don't come with an idea of your clown. Discover it.
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We did an exercise today in which we had to enter on stage wearing a mask from a joke shop and try to make the audience laugh.
Basically everybody had a big flop - some more severe than others. But Philippe was emphasising that this is not bad. The flop is where the clown exists. What the clown does in the flop is what makes us laugh. He gave an example of a great clown who did something to make to the audience laugh. And when they don't, the clown is confused because it was supposed to work. And in this moment of confusion the audience laughs. The clown thinks they have only just got the joke. He tries again. No laugh. Confusion. Then laugh. He realises the audience does get the joke, but the timing is all wrong. They laugh ten seconds too late! So he tries to get the audience to laugh in time with his joke. No laugh. More confusion. Laughter...
After four people had had a go, Philippe decided which was the worst, and then got all of them to run in a circle looking at the audience as bad clowns. Often, when Philippe ridiculed a clown, or (especially) when he got them to leave the stage, we would laugh at the clown. He'd remind us that when the audience laughs our clown is somewhere around us. And in the moment when people leave the stage feeling like a failure, we see some humanity. Something sensitive and loveable.
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I was a bit nervous today, I think because of all the new people. I hung back till near the end of class to have a go. When I got up, I tried many things to make the audience laugh, but still flopped big time. Philippe said it was good that I tried different things (as many people just got up and then did nothing): "he showed his fun, but he was not funny." I need to embrace the kingdom of the bad. Really get used to and comfortable with what it feels like to sit in a big flop.
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Philippe recommended Clown Scenes by Tristan Rémy:
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The new class is a good size - 20 - with people from Australia, Canada, England (many), Brazil, Spain, Germany, France, Italy. And there is a really nice positive feeling about the group. I'm excited to get to know everyone!
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Oh, and Thomas, everybody's favourite Swiss movement teacher back! Awesome!
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I also moved in to my new place in Étampes today.
I've converted the lounge and fold out couch into a little bedroom and it's surprisingly comfortable. I'm really happy here. I'll get to live the Étampes life for a bit. No more 2.5 hour commutes every day! Lots of neighbours! Three minute walk home from school!
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