"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.

~

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...