I have been working with clown lab in parallel with my DYP module as a means to incorporate more clown work into my piece. These are some of the note I have taken from my learning with them.
I also wanted to develop circus skill street performance in relation to my own craft and also to further develop the marketing for the DYP festival
Joined clown theory on Facebook to ask about street performance and was made aware of the work of Chilean clown Karoacha which I started to take seeds from to develop my own performance. In particular a comment on one of his youtube videos that said ‘you’re either part of the performance or watching it’. I hope to take this into my own work on and off the streets.
I started to do the street work and off of the advice of Sean who said that people may steal my props I have flattened the act and started to mime and utilised make up which I have based on Robin Williams’ mime make up used in the 1970s. I started off doing magic but felt it was too insular and wasnt drawing people in. So I moved on to juggling and diablo which i found was much more effective and has jeopardy and failure which leads into my over all comedic performance and is strengthening it too in my opinion.
I found that through mime I was made hyper aware of my suroundings both in performance and out of it too which I think is a really interesting development and will help my audience connection which will only help aid comedic impact.
We played with impulse, impulse puts you in the moment. When you find yourself in the moment try to stay in that moment a little while longer. I think selecting items from my box in relation to the context of the show and the performance haleps me be in the moment several times in my piece. We did an exercise where we threw balls across a circle and if the ball hit you in the face it was a direct showing that that you weren’t in the moment.We were told to be impulsive starting from being on stage. ‘Be in the moment and to have fun onstage as you have fought to be on that stage’. Whilst that is true in a clown sense but also from a personal perspective. This should fuel my time on stage and dictate that i should be having fun on stage primarily.
Clowning opened us to exploration
Clowns are not cute. They create anarchy and mischief. I got a taste of this first hand when I was accosted in the library during my street work. They have a love and a lust for life.
The mentality of if it doesn’t work: ‘That always works usually, but ok’
The clown often comes after the moment of play. the idiot is who we fall in love with. This reminds me of Tommy Cooper, who i have been compared to since starting developing this piece.
from a physical point we were told to open our chests as to have a closed chest makes you defensive.
We were told to be open, vulnerable and ridiculous like you would be with your friends but with an audience.
To find pleasure in the ridiculous.
These are all aspects of clowning that I am trying to incorporate into the performance both on stage and within the street performance work too.
MaCPPTomShort 