"[For] An Actor, The Good Friend Is Fear. The Good Friend Of A Clown Is A Flop."

Today's exercise was to "Pretend to be furious, but we see you love the spectators."

"Pretend you don't want to enter on stage, but we see you love being on the stage."

~

I got up first today (it was a wise choice because by the end of class people were sprinting to the stage to have a go). As I walked backstage Philippe warned the audience that he is an actor and "he will act" rather than be a clown. And unfortunately the old fart was right. I tried many different things - different ways of pretending to be angry - different ways to make the audience laugh - but I never really did. The only time I got a response was when I scream "F U C K" really loudly and then looked surprised at myself as if I'd just said a naughty word. I tried it again, but it didn't work twice. Although looking back now I think the face I made after swearing was what made people laugh, not the swear word, and so I should have repeated that game. I was up onstage for about fifteen minutes - Philippe just let me keep peddling in the shit.

"Too much actor."

"He is an actor. An actor - he doesn't have flop."

Philippe said I forgot the flop and said you always have to remember the flop. I ignored the flop. I didn't allow myself to feel it. And for it to help me.

I asked whether I had the flop when I was bad, and he said "you can be bad without a flop."

Everything you do, you have to think "ahhh – the flop is coming."

~

Paula went after me. She entered strong with too much force and we didn't like her. But when she left the stage with the feeling "oh to be a clown is not a piece of cake" we loved her. So…Enter as if you are leaving the stage!

~

"You don't follow the people laughing." If somebody laughs, follow them. Play to them! And then you might get a few more people laughing. Follow them! Build your laughs!

"We have to see it's a trick to be loved by the audience."

"My exercise is not difficult… You do it all the time with friends."

"If we don't love your idea you have to change."

~

"The flop is something that helps you to be open with us."

"The flop is a friend… The flop belongs to bad students."

"The clown wants success but to have success he has to have a flop around him." – Whereas an actor needs fear around him (as it helps with sensitivity).

"[For] an actor, the good friend is fear. The good friend of a clown is a flop."

~

Philippe keeps repeating the importance of the following things:

Accent

Having fun with the voice

Fantasy: "As a clown, always you need a fantastic fantasy...Otherwise it doesn't work."

Commercial: "They laugh...[the clown thinks] 'I sell it tomorrow'...it's the spirit of clown."

~

Jonathan had a go at the end of class. Philippe got him to pretend to be a drag queen, and then whenever he hit his drum Jonathan had to stop what he was playing and look at the audience as his clown. "It's not the gay looking at us, it's you....To be gay is not a character, it's a trick."

i.e. You need to look at the audience. You - the clown - not what you play. And that is perhaps one difference between an actor with a character and a clown pretending something. The actor looks as their character, not as themselves. I also think it's something to do with the level of believability, or perhaps how much the actor takes on the character, that makes it actor or clown. The clown doesn't get embody the character like an actor does. The clown just puts something on lightly and quickly. 

I found it really difficult today because I'm trying to find how to play clown but I can't help but approach it as an actor. But I need to approach it as a clown. So I'm going to try and not embody anything. To just be really loose with what I play.