"You Have To Be Friends"

Today we did an exercise in which two clowns come out together on stage.  The theme: "Today is less rainy than yesterday" (he clearly just made this up on the spot - it doesn't matter what the theme is - just be funny). Essentially, "If we love you, you stay." 

There could also be an emergency clown backstage to call if the two clowns on stage were in trouble.

"The pleasure of the idiot who wants to say something."  - Like Tarzan and saving Jane.

"We have to see the great pleasure of the idiot who is going to save something."

"'I save the show! You will see what you will see!' With this pleasure he's allowed to go to a flop." 

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For me, the major lesson of the day is that clowns have to be best mates, and the audience has to see that immediately.

"You have to be friends. When you enter you are friends. Always as two clowns, always you're friends – two friends who try to make a show."

"We need to have two friends... Laurel and Hardy - for sure they are good friends"

We need to see two good friends instantly! "Ca ching!...Like 8 year olds." 

"In a couple of clowns, nobody is mean. They respect...You are bad? You are bad. Oh well."

"He has to do something and you have to admire him." = Admire your partner.

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Philippe also emphasised the fact that everything the clown does is not for real, it's just for fun to make us laugh.

"Everything is a joke."

"Everything has to be a trick. A trick to be loved by the audience." You can pretend to be sad, or pessimistic, or whatever, as long as it is a trick to make us laugh.

"Everything is possible if it's a trick to be loved by the audience."

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"Always you do something and after you are happy. You're happy with what you do." Like a child.

"You need to find the ridiculous part of your body"

"You have to play with us. We don't laugh – you have to do something."

"When a clown enters he wants to succeed but he knows it is not a piece of cake. [He thinks] I have to be good as an artist with the audience."(Don't do too much.)

"Every stupid thing you do, you think 'Mmm...Nobel Prize is coming'" (Look for the King of Sweden.)

"Pretend everything is written in the script."

"A clown is not an idiot...he is okay to present himself as an idiot to make us laugh."

"We have to think you love us." (The audience)

"If we laugh, we love you."

~

I got up once as an emergency clown. I came out with a viking hat on and a bat in my hand and spoke Japanese to Miwa briefly telling how to correctly speak English. Then I left. People laughed, but only because my mask fell off during my 10 seconds on stage. Philippe said I was lucky because my mask fell off, but I wasn't any good. I didn't show my eyes. I didn't look at the audience.

I also got up at the end of the class and played with Simone. We did the obligatory walk in a circle at the beginning and when the music stopped Simone went straight into being in major without us getting a chance to look at each other and decide how to play together (something Philippe had been pushing throughout class), so we started again. "We don't think they are good friends." We tried again, but were really bad. Not funny at all. I played cool, like everything was under control, like I was super happy with what Simone had done, and whenever I did something after I finished I played like I had just fixed everything. Philippe started ridiculing us quietly to the audience whilst we kept trying, and then finally banged his drum. He said we were the worst clowns of the day. He also said it could be a good number with two really bad clowns, but what we did was not a good number.

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Philippe said the purpose of the music which is played when we enter is for the clowns to walk around the circus (show ourselves), and then when the music stops the clowns stop walking and think "Ah! It's time to be actor! Idiot!"

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We also were encouraged to take turns as a pair of clowns. You go then I'll go. Major / Minor. Your turn / my turn. And the clown in minor shouldn't do anything. I asked if it was okay to upstage your fellow clown for fun, and Philippe said no for clowns. They are best friends. Full support is required.

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Many of us (including me) are falling into the trap of mistaking clown for mime. i.e. Many numbers have no talking. But text is good, especially with a ridiculous voice.

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Tomorrow Philippe is having his 'Garage Day' (he did this in my first year) so we'll have a different teacher for movement and Thomas will take Clown. Cool! Thomas is a great teacher, and it's always nice to have a different perspective (and rest from Philippe).