"You Have To Develop Your Pleasure After You Do Something Idiot."

Auto-course Friday: Make the audience believe you are a musician.

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Hannah, Michael and Rosemary did a number in which they gave Tom Tom the iPad to do the music for their scene, gave him instructions, and then kept making it out like he had stuffed it up. Endless music problems. But we weren't included, so we didn't laugh. "We are not in the game."

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Nicko and Jonathan did a fantastic number involving lots of stupid problems. First Nicko was on a high stool and Jonathan was on a small chair, so they both stupidly found a way to be at the same height on their different seats (Nicko half falling off his). Then there were troubles with Jonathan's Goofy tail - getting in Nicko's face and not sitting nicely with his chair. Then trouble with the song they were there to perform. "Count me in!" It was very very funny. They didn't play too much, but were complete idiots. Philippe's asked "do you look at us to see if we think 'ooh they are musicians?" because they didn't really. But "it's not too bad."

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Boris presented a number in which he played a bad song on a recorder but he kept having problems with getting hair in his mouth from his hairy King Kong outfit every time he went to play his instrument. Philippe suggested he look for a way that he can be good at the recorder if something happens. e.g. A woman walks by and he's suddenly very good. And then she's gone and it's horrible again.

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Tessa and Connor presented a number in which they had lots of trouble unpacking their music gear. Cords unravelling, tripods and music stands falling apart. Toilet paper rolling everywhere. It was very funny but they got a bit stuck after a while on where to go with it. "Idea very good but you have to write better...it has to be clear where you go."

"It's a mess...with a mess you have to be really precise."

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Cat, Sophie and Simone presented a number in which they tried to make us believe they were rockstars. 

They came out with a big sheet covering them, they had loud rock'n'roll music playing, and then they did bad entrances with baby powder flying in the air as a an effect of stage-smoke. The effect was good but the powder went everywhere and Philippe stopped the number before we all suffocated. "It's not well done." It was pretty loose. "If you have a number like this you have to do it at the end."

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Mark presented a number in which he did a short stupid dance to classical ballet music. He was funny with his stupid face on, but he didn't have the pride of a child in his eyes. "You never though I am a great artist...you play a beautiful idiot but not a clown." He also warned that "it can't be a parody."

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Miwa and Yung Yung did a number in which Miwa played the recorder of We Wish You A Merry Christmas whilst Yung Yung sang along. That part was bad. They did find something doing everlasting bows in the beginning. Philippe spoke about the 'slave' relationship we saw on stage (as Yung Yung entered with both her own and Miwa's bag, and Miwa appeared to be ordering Yung Yung around via her recorder). "If we understand it's a game to be loved by the audience it's okay" but this wasn't so clear - they didn't look like best friends.

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I presented a number in which I tried to make the audience believe I am a rapper. I did a few little gangster hand signs at the start and got a few little laughs.

Then I went into what I had planned and got out a little robotic-flipping dog out of my suitcase (I bought this a while ago as Tin Tin's dog but never had the guts to try it out until now). I held the dog in my hand, turned it on, and beat boxed along with the yapping barks of the dog. Then after a wee bit I put the dog down and let it do it's walking and flipping whilst I continued to rap "boom boom chikka chikka boom!" People were laughing and I went for a while but it was more for the cuteness of the dog than me. E.g. There was a moment the dog flipped and landed in a position in which it was coming to me, which was cute. I didn't play with the dog enough either. Although I was happy with myself for looking at and being with the audience more, and not being ashamed. Philippe eventually hit the drum, and then said the line I knew he would say: "Do we prefer him or the dog?" 

He then said "it's dangerous" to perform with something like this - it's like the rule against performing with animals and children - because you're sure to be upstaged. "We don't see you so much." So Philippe suggested getting rid of the dog and finding something else. I'm happy I tried though!

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Steph, Boris and Yung Yung tried a slightly different version of the number they had improvised a while ago on Garage day (the 'film star' class) in which the two girls were latched onto Boris making it difficult for him to do what he was there to do...which today was to sing a song. But it wasn't clear what the problem was today and it wasn't funny. "We do not understand." It could work, but I think they need to build the problem slower. Or make the problem clearer.

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Miluka did a number in which she pretended to play flamenco guitar (which was actually playing on the stereo). 

But she had a music problem game with Tom Tom, plus this game where she kept drinking music, and it wasn't clear. "I do not understand...and we have to understand everything."

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Paula did a rhythmic number where she made funny noises with her mouth and slapped her thighs and did other silly things to build the music. But Philippe stopped her because she kept going without stopping to see whether we like it and to show how happy she is with herself. 

"We don't see you happy after five seconds...you don't need to be clown to do that."

He then got her to do just five seconds and then stop, to which he said "not bad." And we see a Paula's smile and see something childish and beautiful. 

"A clown...he is sure someone is going to say 'that is a musician - a first class musician'."

"You have to develop your pleasure after you do something idiot."

"Five seconds - Poff! - Pleasure."

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Michaela finished the class off on a high note with a number in which she came on stage with an accordion.

She played minor chords slowly, one after the other, with a sad almost crying look on her face. We liked her like this! "You could do something like that for the show." Go Michaela!!!

“Boom...Ting!”

Our last garage day with Tom Tom today (he goes at the end of the week). 

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Today we played the ‘greatest love scene’.

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“Don’t forget us!”

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Nicko and I got up together and I started by placing my hand over my chest and doing a heart beat gesture whilst saying “boom boom, boom boom.” After I did that Nicko shouted “Ting!” We got a laugh. Tried again, another laugh. So we started playing more. Me having fun to change the rhythm of the musical boom-booms and be silly with my body. Tom Tom helped a bit and suggested I could go really far with it, whilst Nicko’s job was to stand still and wait for the right time to say “Ting!” (often not quite on the beat). 

It was really great. The audience were laughing away and we were really with them. I was focusing on just being with the audience and Nicko, and it worked. Really simple. I’d like to try and present this again as a number. The challenge will be in the beginning - in building the game with the audience - because once we’ve got that then we can just go for it. I guess that’s the same for everything in clown. Getting the audience to love you, and then after that you can go go go.

“For Sure If You Are Not With Us You Can’t Do A Clown Show.”

Today’s exercise was to “make us believe you are an actor.” Monsieur Marcel has told us that “when an actor walks on the stage we think he is Apollo and when he speaks we hear the birds in Amazonia.”

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Connor and I had a go together. We were trying to find something funny imitating a god walking, but the audience never laughed and Philippe killed us quite quickly. “You have to change”, he said, to which I replied that we did, several times! Because we did. We tried many things. But Philippe explained himself and said it doesn’t mean do lots of things - it means come back from the moon and look at the audience the way I do when I’m being critiqued. I didn’t look at the audience like that when I was playing, but afterwards I did. It hit me on a deeper level today that being with the audience, looking at them, listening to them, playing with them, is the most important thing. 

“You go to another planet and hup! we are not here.”

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Philippe got Tessa to do ridiculously long strides, whilst being soft on her feet, and looking to the audience. After five big steps she had to stop, smile, and softly say “I am an actor.” And we loved her. “It’s not really complicated.” You have to think ‘With this walk I’m sure everyone will think I’m a brilliant actor.’ “If we don’t have this fantastic pleasure and this stupid walk it’s just a heavy idea.”

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“It is directly from the clown to the audience.”

“You have to be happy.”

“You can’t disagree [with us]!...We are the audience and we see better what you do than you!”

“If you are bad but we see a beautiful soul you are genius.”

It’s interesting: Do a bird cheep once and it is ridiculous. Do it five times and it’s normal.

“For sure if you are not with us you can’t do a clown show.”

“When people don’t do anything perhaps something is coming. But when people do so many things for sure nothing is coming.”

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Today’s class was pretty rough. Philippe was in a sour mood and there were no second chances. However he worked a bit with Liz right at the end of class. “Are you ready to explode?” 

She wanted to, but she was having trouble letting go. I egged her on by yelling “Come on Ms Landon!” (she’s a high school teacher) and that tipped her and she came out raging. She had a giant furious outburst at Philippe (he said she could say nasty things to him) and finally let go. She was alive and bright red and full of life. And very funny! He then got her to present the clown show like this and it was great. “This one could be your clown.”

“You Need To Be More Innocent.”

Today our task was to come out in pairs and do a number based on George Simenon’s Police-Novel Room 77.

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Boris and I went up together. We were listening to each other and found a nice little game repeating a sequence of stubbing out a cigarette, shooting a gun, opening a door, and ninja-rolling through it. People were laughing a bit and we were building something, but Philippe stopped us because we weren’t looking at the audience. We weren’t looking out for the King of Sweden. “Have you listened over the past five weeks?”

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Sophie and Michaela had a go and Sophie was great with her trolley full of food which she proceeded to eat on stage. The idea that she can’t play until she’s eaten is a funny one. So Michaela’s job is to try and save the show. To continue with Room 77 regardless, or to make us believe Sophie eating is part of the show. 

“Good mood! Good mood! No problem! No problem! Ha ha! Ha ha!”

“You have to pretend it’s no problem, always.”

But it’s a hard role to play and Michaela didn’t know what to do. And neither would I. We love Sophie a lot with her stupidity and lack of care or awareness for what she’s supposed to be doing, and so Michaela has to find a way to also be loved without stopping what Sophie is doing. “You can’t stop your friend when we love them.” And Michaela has to still love Sophie. She can’t get annoyed with her. “The guy that every night is in the shit with his friend...he is still his friend.”

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Yung Yung and Connor had a go but weren’t funny. Afterwards, Philippe got them to choose people they fancied to kiss them on the neck.

“When you act we don’t see the splendid pleasure that gives light on your face...We don’t see something beautiful on your face...so you are not clown.”

“You have to think: I show my soul.”

“This exercise [kissing] is good to remind you how ‘I am beautiful and people have to see how I was when I was seven.’”

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At the end of class Boris and I got up and had another go. I had been presenting as Monsieur Loyale previously so at one point in our failing number I left the stage as my clown and reentered as Monsieur Loyale. It didn’t really work, but oh well! I then entered again as my clown to try and save the show and shouted “FREEZE!” with my gun in front like a policeman. 

Philippe banged his drum. He then asked whether I did that like I had seen it done in many movies, or whether it was made up? I said it was like I’d seen it many times before. “You need to be more innocent.”  I need to invent the “Freeze!” moment in a funny way. In a way in which I don’t know what a gun is. What I did was too knowing and too normal.

“Everybody Has A Stupidity To Sell, But There Are Few Who Want To Sell It.”

Today we swapped clown costumes. The exercise was to come out on stage and have fun to play your friend. Mock them. Play their games. And then leave again. Just a quick moment. 

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It was great fun - everybody was free and we laughed a lot. Very funny to see people dressed in each others costumes (often ridiculous with opposing body shapes!) and to mimic signature moments their friend had had. It was very much like seeing a child dressed in their parent’s clothes pretending to be their parents. Saying their signature “It’s bed time” and “Go to your room” lines. Super cute.

I came out as Hannah’s Snow White and had a great time. Immediately people were in hysterics from just me in the costume (partly perhaps because it suited me). I came out to music and then stopped and said sorry in Hannah’s London accent and walked into the audience (as Hannah as done on a few occasions) to fix the music. “I’m really sorry!” I imitated her “Romeo Romeo” funny voice and even did her “Yesterday I was really bad” song and dance. I also did her confused/worried face which had people laughing away. It was a really great moment for me. I nailed it. Philippe later said “You sold her very well.”

At the end of this exercise he said that it shows that “everybody is in the position to sell...To sell the stupidity of their friends.” But he noted that we don’t have the same fun selling ourselves. “Many times you are better with your friends than with yourself.”

“Everybody has a stupidity to sell, but there are few who want to sell it.”

“Carry on being commercial and not being with your character.”

For me I felt freer as Hannah because I had something to play. Whereas without some reference I feel lost (although isn’t a movie star enough of a reference? Aren’t all these ‘make us believe you are X’ reference enough?). It makes sense of why I am better as an actor than as a clown though. “As an actor you sell yourself in another way.” i.e. Pretending you are someone else. However I’d like to sell my stupidity. I just feel like I don’t know what it is. Well, I know lots of stupid things about me as a person that I could sell. But me as a clown, I don’t know. Yet.

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Afterwards we did an exercise in which we had to make the audience believe we are a business man. To do this we had to multiply VAT ('Value Added Tax') by 310 and divide by 17.

Simone and I tried together, but got stuck in one of Simone’s now signature games of shouting “Hi!” I tried to save us by doing a stick up and saying “give me your money” but we got gonged. 

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On the train on the way home Nicko and Tessa were telling me some things that they’ve seen when I perform clown and gave me some pointers. Nicko was saying that I don’t stay long enough with something before I quit. And the audience see they I’ve decided it’s bad. I decide it’s bad before they get a chance to decide it’s bad. So I need to stay with things longer. Keep searching for someone who likes it for longer. And don’t decide for the audience. Tessa also noted how funny and naughty and silly I am on the train, and how I need to bring that on the stage. She’s absolutely right.

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This Friday’s auto-course: a musician number. Pretend you know how to play an instrument. If you really do play, after twenty minutes of absolutely horrible efforts, you suddenly play very well at the end. You be a singer, play the harmonica, make bird sounds...whatever. And it can be solo (“if nobody wants to work with you”) or in a group.

"It's Precise. What You Have To Do Is Really Precise."

Auto-course showings today of the 'kick in the arse' gag. Philippe made a joke that with only six groups the class would be short, but I assured him that they are all very long and very good. He asked how I knew this and I joked that I wrote and directed all of them. So this became the joke of the day...

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Nicko, Cat and Jonathan did a great number in which they did endless little signals and high fives to each other and the audience. "This one is a number of three clowns who don't know what to do." He then got them to do the 'kick in the arse' number which they had dropped in favour of following the game which was working for them. Again with their number they had a great connection with the audience and were very funny. 

"With the three actors together, they are very good."

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Simone, Miwa and Connor's number was rushed. The 'kick in the arse' bit was too quick (we need a nice big build-up)...however Connor was incredibly funny with a problem that arose from his roll of toilet paper attached to his waist (his costume is a boy scout) which kept unravelling which led him to keep tucking bits of paper in his many pockets.

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Tessa, Sophie and Boris didn't get the mechanics right for the scene, but were still funny with their misunderstanding (although unfortunately Boris didn't even get a go to go on).

"We need to see the face of the person who gets kicked."

"She receives the kick, and after...illumination! 'I'm going to do that to another friend.'"

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Mark, Hannah and Miluka did a fantastic number which started off with a false start. Hannah was the boss and tried to get the other two clowns to go back off stage, but Mark, playing a complete idiot (like somebody with a brain the size of a pea) couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do.

The only thing he knew was to run around a circle. And he kept trying to do that, and Hannah kept trying to convince him otherwise. It was hilarious. And the game continued with Hannah trying to signal to Mark inconspicuously with her eyes what he was supposed to do, but Mark still had no idea. Just a dimwit idiotic (yet naïve and loveable) look on his face. "It's fantastic...nothing works in this couple." Philippe warned that a clown couple is never negative. They are always friends. Even if one of them is incredibly frustrating and stupid, he is still loved by his partner.

Most of all I was happy for Mark. It was a brilliant day for him. His best, I'm sure. We adored him and he played so well. Subtle and listening.

"Him as an idiot...he is expensive...we love him as an idiot."

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"You need to have one number with one idea. After you come back with another number."

"It's precise. What you have to do is really precise."

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Finally Liz and Katie and I did our auto-course scene. We had rehearsed a bit throughout the week but didn't work too much. Just got the shape of it and decided to try and find a game on stage. But that didn't happen! At first we came out to run in a circle and Katie forgot to put on her red nose. Philippe asked me, the director/writer (joke continued), to tell her to put on her nose. So I screamed at her like a hot-tempered director. A bit of a laugh. We started again. But this time Liz decided not to wear her red nose. I yelled again. A bit of a laugh. And then we went to our scene, but I was a bit heavy and negative (carried over from the yelling) and we had no complicité. I kind of tried to play the boss - as if everything was going wrong - but didn't do it with lightness and fun. When it came to the kick Liz played that it actually really hurt - which worried me because I thought I really had hurt her. That created a worse feeling in the audience. Then Katie came out and the scene was no better. "Fucking fucking boring." So quite a disaster.

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I'm feeling a bit unmotivated about the course at the moment. I'm not giving up, but I'm not caring as much as perhaps I should be. I guess I just feel like Clown is not something that comes naturally to me at all and so I don't feel like it's that productive to be working hard on writing numbers. Rather, I'm happy just watching others and enjoying giving things a go without expecting too much. I accept that I need to stick with the basics for now. Feeling the flop. Keep searching. And I'm happy with that. I only have four more weeks at this school, and in Paris, and I'm just enjoying it without too much stress or worry.

"You Have To Take The Flop. You Have To Embrace The Flop."

Garage day with Tom Tom. 

Today our clown wants to be a film star. 

Monsieur Marcel tells us to be a film star you must say "Hasta la vista, baby" or "the dingo ate my baby."

Jump to 2:33 for the film star line.

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So in groups of two (and sometimes 3) we had to come out and make the audience laugh by pretending to be film stars. 

"You have to want to be film stars." - It's not casual. It's important.

"You have to take the flop. You have to embrace the flop."

"If you feel the game becomes boring you have to change slightly." i.e. If it goes on for a while successfully that's great, but eventually you need to evolve what you're doing slightly.

"In a team of three, one for sure has to be in another rhythm."

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We learned a bit about how some pairings of clowns work and others don't. e.g. Michael and Sophie are both funny, but they're not a good couple because they are on the same level intellectually. And we need difference. We need contrast. Hierarchy helps. Who is the boss?

Tom Tom spoke about how even though Philippe says to listen to when the audience laughs and make a mental note of it and do it again tomorrow..."you always have to find a new game"… It doesn't mean you don't try what you did yesterday, but you might have to shift a bit. "The clown has to think 'yes I'll do that again' but the actor inside has to be sensitive with it...Keep a bit of insecurity… You listen less to the flop when you are secure." He said it's hard to repeat something funny in a class situation, because we get to know each other and people's tricks. So we always have to try new things.

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Cat and I went up together and started off trying to find a game out of continuing to do our silly runs on the spot. But Tom Tom stopped us saying that we need different rhythms - we can't do the same thing. He then kind of guided us through an improvisation helping out here and there. He got me to play the boss and to tell Cat what to do. As if I have a grand plan for the show. At first I wasn't strict enough. Then Tom Tom got me to be a bit nasty, but like that it became a bit aggressive. It wasn't like we were best friends. But we had a good game for a wee bit in which I would tell Cat not to do something - "Don't move your eyes!" - and the audience could see Cat really wanting to. I had to shout an order, and then immediately turn to the audience and smile. And we had a game where she undermined my orders. Cat was loved like this, but I wasn't. Tom Tom said that I'm more of a white face clown.

 The whiteface character-type is often serious, all-knowing (even if not particularly smart), bossy and cocky. He is the ultimate authority figure. He serves the role of "straight-man" and sets up situations that can be turned funny.

So basically Monsieur Loyale! Although he said this boss relationship I was exploring would only be for the particular pairing of Cat and I.

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Boris, Yung Yung, and Steph had a brilliant moment in which big King Kong Boris was clung to on both sides by his two girlfriends. It was lovely and innocent - even though there were sexual undertones - and they rode the wave of our laughter fantastically.

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After class I asked Tom Tom for advice on something simple to work on at the moment. He said: "Just focus on really taking the flop. Feeling it. Don't rush past it."

"We Love You Because You Want To Stay On The Stage."

Today we had to make the audience believe that we are a doctor. 

Monsieur Marcel says if you say "take your clothes off" everyone will think you are a doctor.

We also had the option of saying "thirty three" which is the french equivalent of your doctor asking you to cough. The throaty "trente-trois" does the same thing! 

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Jonathan and Michael were great screaming TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF!!! and THIRTY THREE THIRTY THREE!!! at the top of their lungs. They had great complicité and a good game (Jonathan was helping Michael really yell by pressing on his diaphragm - as Michael has been hestitant to really yell for a while now).

"We love you because you want to stay on the stage… You seduce us because you want to stay."

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Simone and Nicko were also great with this ridiculous repetition of "Hey! What? How are you? Good! Thank you!" Philippe said it's the first time he's loved them. "They want to stay."

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"A good clown number… The audience thinks 'so stupid…but I love it.'"

"We love him because he thinks he is funny with something absolutely not funny."

"When you run [around the circle] you present your clown team."

"If you speak loud we are sure you are not ashamed."

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I went up with Katie. My goal was to work on doing something for just five seconds, then stopping and seeing how it landed, as well as not being ashamed. I did what I intended to do, but Philippe said that although I didn't look ashamed, I didn't look happy. "We see you doubt." I didn't think 'ah I'm going to crack them.' And the things I did to make the audience laugh weren't five seconds worth - more like two seconds worth - and I didn't try lots of crazy things. I was blocked and repeated the same thing more or less. Where as Katie did a lot of things with her body to try to stay on the stage and in the end she cracked it doing this strange hip thrusting dance whilst flicking her skirt up now and then. 

I actually also did two other things that definitely didn't work. When we entered to run around the stage I deliberately tripped up and fell on the ground, but it wasn't clear that it was a joke and people thought it was for real. So they worried about me. My intention was to get 'stuck' and play the scene from the back of the stage, but my fall wasn't quite clever enough and so my foot was free from the start and I couldn't get myself re-stuck. Also, at one point whilst we were flopping Philippe started speaking the audience as he does sometimes to provoke and I decided to react to it and see what happens. I said in a loud voice something along the lines of "Why don't you stop looking at the clock and start concentrating on what we're doing on stage because we're working here!" I didn't mean it. It was just me trying something new. But it definitely came across as negative and aggressive. It wasn't light and fun. And it made the audience instantly hate me in a way.

~

So slowly learning bit by bit. But I really need to loosen up and have fun. I'm too tense and I want too much at the moment. I'm not free to be silly. I'm paralysed by the requirement to make the audience laugh.

"Five Seconds You Play A Character, And Then You Stop And You Are Happy."

Today's warmup exercise (which lasted the whole class): "You have to make people believe you are a gangster."

When I got up I had a big long flop. I tried lots but nothing worked. It was 'peddling in the couscous' as Philippe called it. Which means no fixed point. And I came across as desperate. At the end I asked if I was ashamed (because I felt like I wasn't - I stayed positive and kept searching) but he said yes because I played 'I'm not funny'. "I can't say 'ooh la la it doesn't work'." I have to play 'there are three people from Belgium in the audience...that's why they aren't laughing.'

Couscous...

A few things clicked for me today though. Especially the idea of the clown showing his idiot happiness with what he does. It doesn't matter what you feel on the inside. It's what we see on the outside. You have to show when you are happy. And it also has to happen after only a short amount of playing. Just five seconds. You don't have to play a gangster for long at all. Just a tiny bit, then come out of it, and look at the audience like what you just did was brilliant. Like a kid would if they wanted to show you they were a gangster.

"We have to see the pleasure of the clown happy five seconds after what he does."

"The more you are happy with a stupid thing you do the more you are clown."

"You have to show to the audience that it is coming...you do a shit but you are optimistic."

"You do something bad and you're desperate: you leave… If you do something bad and you think it's good for your international career: it's something."

"A good clown – he doesn't panic."

"Five seconds you play a character, and then you stop and you are happy."

"We don't see your child pleasure to be on the stage."

"You have to be loveable."

"When I say you are boring… You can fight a bit to discover something." i.e. Shout back "No I am not boring!" and see what happens.

"You need to have a game with the audience. You need to have a game with everything."

"A clown enters – his life is to succeed… It has to be important… Not easy… You have to care." Being funny is incredibly important to the clown. It's his job. He's not blasé about it.

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Towards the end of class Philippe started getting people that weren't funny to explain their three worst flops to us, just as themselves. Always we found that we liked them more like this than when they play on the stage. There's less acting - less stiffness and pushing - and more of something real and open.

Philippe said to a few people that they are too nice on the stage and to try getting a bit pissed off. I think I might give that a go too...

"Every Problem Is Good For Clown."

The first exercise for today was to play Tartuffe by Moliere, and the only thing the clown knows is that you need a table because there is a very famous scene under a table.

"If we think 'so beautiful imagination around something he doesn't know'… We are happy."

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We were all a bit hesitant to try this exercise, so instead Philippe offered a warm up exercise which we did for the duration of the whole class: have fun to imitate the sound a pinball machine.

"The more you do something stupid the more you dream you are going to receive $300,000 for this moment."

Most of us were bad - not funny or with much pleasure - but Tessa and Boris were great. Tessa initially got confused and thought she had to make the sound of a dolphin as Philippe had used the word 'flipper' to suggest a pinball machine...so she ended up doing a mix of a crazy pinball machine and a 'agah-agah-agah' dolphin sound. 

We loved her! And Boris jumped from a pinball machine to an overly happy cat hissing at us. They were both great, and at the end of the exercise there was a little contest to find the best one - with one going, then the other, then the other again... - and in the end they both won!

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"Every problem is good for clown."

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We also received this week's auto-course: We go to Monsieur Marcel to find out a new funny number and he says "the best way to make an audience laugh is a kick in the arse." So we have to work in a group of three and create something funny in which the same clown gets kicked each time, even though they think they've figured out the pattern that leads to the kicks. A classic clown number.

"Everything is in the preparation."

"It is always the best idiot who receives a kick."

Lyon

I skipped class today and instead went to Lyon for Amanda's birthday. 

We had a great time! I heard that class (Auto-course showing) was pretty dismal though. Not feeling so sorry I missed it to be honest!

Riding In Cars With Clowns

Class with Tom Tom today. We worked in groups of about 8 all up on stage at the same time. What started as a warm up became nearly the whole class! We danced to funky disco music and showed off our great moves. And spoke about our Clown problems. Whatever. It was fairly random - just following the fun.

I had a good time doing the 'drive-your-car' dance which I just made up on the spot. It involved getting out the keys, opening the door, turning on the ignition, putting down the pedal, and steering...all whilst pulsating to the beat. I played it a bit like I think I'm super cool - a bit cocky - and it worked. People were laughing a lot. And Tom Tom got me to try a motorcycle and aeroplane too which was fun. I also found something speaking in an asian accent again, although it wasn't always a winner. Tom Tom warned me not to be too clever, which I have a tendency to do.

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At the end of class we did a quick exercise in which there was a 'clown doctor' whose job is to "come in, save the show and leave again."

"Guy! He Is GOOD! [As Monsieur Loyale]"

Philippe began class today talking about children and how they are usually happy to be with the family when there are guests around. I like to play up and to be noticed. He spoke about his son Balthazar, and how he dressed up as D'Artagnan as a child...but really didn't have a clue who D'Artagnan was. But he would have fun pretending to be D'Artagnan regardless. He also spoke about what a child is like when they want to stay up late after bedtime. They use all of their charm to get another 10 minutes awake time. These are key things for Clown too. To have fun with pretending to be something (regardless of whether it's 'correct' or not, and to do everything you can to stay on the stage. 

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For today's exercise (named 'Spotlight 22') we had to pretend to be a good technician. 

Philippe got me to play Monsieur Loyale, and my job was tell the audience that there is going to be a quick break in the show so a technician can fix the lights. I'd then welcome on a clown and they had to have fun to pretend they knew what they were doing. Philippe suggested saying stock technician phrases like "we've got juice" and "the guy that did this job before did a really bad job." 

I didn't write many notes at all today because I was onstage for the entire class! I had a good time as Monsieur Loyale and did a good job. At one point Philippe yelled "Guy! He is GOOD!" as if it pained him to do it. It felt good because I was able to help the clowns. Sometimes I could sense a game they could play, and so I tried to steer them towards that. For example, with Jonathan I could hear that he was talking loudly and excitedly to the audience, so I came out and pretended to be angry telling him that his job is not to chat to the audience but to fix the lights. And then he had a nice game to play with the audience in which secretly spoke to them, and then pretended that he wasn't when I entered. And as Monsieur Loyale you can play a good fixed point / play-it-straight to the ridiculous clown beside you. There were several times that a clown and I had the audience in hysterics! People were really thankful and supportive too, cheering me on and congratulating me after class. So although I didn't do anything as a clown, I rocked it as Monsieur Loyale, and that felt great.

"One Idea Is Always The Best."

We continued with yesterday's Slovenien exercise: "Have fun to make us believe you speak this language."

Philippe was much harder on us today, kicking people off the stage far swifter than normal, and some people took his criticism to heart today too. There were a few people crying in the audience, and you could feel the weight in the room.

"When it's a catastrophe you have to do something...otherwise you leave."

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Jonathan and I gave the exercise a go - we tried many things - but nobody laughed. "Too much acting...horrible." Philippe said that we need to have little private moments between ourselves, especially if we don't understand why the audience aren't laughing.

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"Everything you do you hope that an impresario is there to sign a contract."

"Always you do something idiot – and you dream of your contract in Hollywood."

"It's the dream of something that makes the clown beautiful… If you don't have this dream you will be [a] Covent Garden clown."

"We have to see the clown behind the character happy to present himself like this."

"Bad is good if you are not ashamed"

I was thinking about another difference between actor and clown: An actor doesn't come out of their character. But a clown comes in and out. A clown plays a bit, then stops and checks in with the audience, then plays a bit more. An actor never stops and checks in like this.

Philippe noted that we don't see our pleasure to be in our costumes any more like we did in the beginning. And this pride is important.

"It's shit because you don't have a dream."

"It's good when we see 'ah the artist doesn't know what to do'… And wuhp! he says the show!"

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After, we did an exercise in which we had to play an important person. You say to Monsieur Marcel "I want to play someone with a big responsibility...like the boss of British Petroleum. 

And Monsieur Marcel says "he receives a lot of faxes." And that's all we know.

So we all gave that a go, either by ourselves or with an assistant. Philippe recommended having an assistant, but to make sure they are lower than you. It's nice to see a clown happy to be an assistant too. To come out on their cue and be helpful. And often we loved the assistant more than the boss.

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I had a go as the boss and Hannah was my assistant. At first I spoke in a loud voice with a Scottish accent talking about how busy I am. I stopped and took a look at the audience...nothing. Then I tried an asian accent and yelled "Assistant!" Hannah then rushed out to my side, and I said "You have faxes for me?" Hannah then ran off stage and returned quickly saying "I have so many faxes for you" pretending to give me faxes. As she left again I repeated "Assistant! You have faxes for me?" and a game was created in which Hannah was rushing on and off stage with more faxes, and the more she did this, the crazier we got. The audience were laughing a lot, and when we started to reach a climax Philippe played the music again so that we could leave the stage with our game.

At the end Philippe said "Not too bad." He noted that we had good complicité, the pleasure of a child, and that we made a good point by having just one idea. "One idea is always the best." So that was a good discovery and a good moment in an otherwise fairly bleak day!

"It's a game between two idiots who want to make us believe they know something about fax."

"You Can't Do Everything You Want To Do. You Have To Do [Things] Round Your Clown."

Philippe opened the class today by saying "to be honest… on Friday I was fucking surprised... so many people discovered something… after three weeks... I never saw that." 

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A few people showed auto-course numbers from last week:

Katie presented a number in which she did some bad Irish dance and then told us the story of Othello with an Irish accent.

"The dance, why not? But the speech… Impossible... Not naïve enough."

He then got Katie to make various different sounds with her mouth – a trumpet, washing machine, the sound of an English breakfast cooking, an old telephone, creaky stairs - and then got her to tell us the story of Othello but make one of those sounds every time he hit his drum (which was a lot).

"You have to discover a way to speak. If you speak normal, it's not clown."

~

Boris did a number in which he had trouble introducing himself. But he did some gestures and actions that seem quite habitual - little things that say 'it's not great, let's try again' or along that line - but they weren't clear. They were for him, but not for us.

"We have to understand what you want… You are an idiot… But you want to show something… And I don't understand what you want."

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Michaela's number was a flop from the start...but then she brought out a list of everything she has to do to be a good clown (very German) and we started to like her. Philippe then got her to speak very loud in German - to pretend to be furious - and she started banging her caveman club against her head...which was bizarre but funny.

"Never will you be charming 'classic'… But like this you are charming."

~

Michael did a solo number in which he switched between two characters, but he was laughing to himself as if he though it was funny. Philippe had an issue with him laughing, because the audience feels cheated if he laughs but we don't. 

"We want to see a guy happy to be on the stage but not laughing."

~

Philippe then announced that the next exercise will be in the Sloven language. "Sloven is a bit Serbian… A bit Russian."

The director of the circus says you have to save the show because the actors can't make it. It's a slovenian production of Romeo and Juliet. But the actor who plays Romeo is in Moscow and the actress who plays Juliet is in New York. A you know about the show is that there is a balcony.

So essentially...have fun pretending that you can speak Slovenian very well!

Most of us were really bad at this exercise. Lots of flops. But Boris found something good by pretending to cry. Philippe reminded him that he should cry "not because you're sad...[but] because it makes the audience laugh."

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"You want to make us laugh and you want to stay on the stage"

"You can't do everything you want to do. You have to do [things] round your clown."

"Follow one idea and you're going to discover something fantastic...When you have one idea you are an idiot fantastic."

"You have to try everyday something new."

"I don't know if it has to be you, but we have to trust you as a stupid human being."

 "You have to feel the flop and to react… To show something absolutely special."

~

Auto-course for next week: We go to Monsieur Marcel because we want to play Cleopatra by William Shakespeare. Monsieur Marcel says "Cleopatra without Anthony is nothing..." and that's all!