RESOURCE PACK: Exploring clown as a tool for acting.
By Matt Godfrey
February 2014, Eden MS festival
Exploring clown as a tool for acting: the littlest mask or no mask at all
Introduction
Masks are magic. Even the ‘littlest mask’, often referred to as The Red Nose.
Masks are not intended to hide behind, but are used to reveal. Instead of doing ‘more’
and ‘filling in the blanks, Red Nose Clown workshop actors learn that: sometimes
doing nothing creates magic; unidentifiable elements elevate a performance; and
living within the emotional reality of being is transcending.
Teacher tips
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Keep them on their feet.
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Make a fool out of yourself from the top. They will follow you down that line.
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Draw them out. Perform without performing. Set the extreme level subconsciously.
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Be bigger than the will be. But keep it rooted in reality.
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It is better to be interested than to be interesting.
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Get used to saying “Look at the audience!”
Overview: doing nothing
The toughest thing to learn to do as an actor is doing nothing on stage or on camera
while still being true to the emotional reality of the character. The evolution of
mask training moves from expression to character to clown. There are a number of
variants used throughout those broad strokes such as Neutral, Trestle, Larval and
Comedia but ultimately the mask as a training device is about ultimately freeing the
performer to be themselves – or rather being themselves within a character. Each
level of mask explores a different level of personal investment. From projection:
relying on what the mask informs you to be, through filling the void that lies between
yourself and the character without the use of a physical mask. Working with the red
nose bridges these two states of performance and blurs the lines between playing a
character and being a character.
So how does one do nothing? Through an extensive and on-going practice of
constantly being in a state of reaction.
Genre or means to and end
Not everyone is a clown. It takes a bizarre combination of stage presence, comedic
timing, focus, understanding of the human condition, improvisation, connecting with
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the audience, Greek chorus, characterization, pantomime, complicite, slapstick,
Meisner, breaking the 4th wall, Stanislavsky, mimicry, mime, mask work, risk taking
and vulnerability. To any that study Red Nose, any and all of these elements can
be explored and broadened. Red Nose, the way I see it, is more about pushing the
emotional boundaries and skill sets of the performer while developing a more truthful
performance, be it with a Red Nose or without.
Exercises
There is no definitive list of exercises that I use. Teaching Clown effectively
relies on the teacher’s ability to react and improvise using their knowledge of
games and exercises while applying them to the world of mask and clown. That
said the following is a list of exercises that I have found useful to establish
technique while opening the doors for exploration between teacher and clown:
These exercises also are specifically related to the Clown Commandments {CC} which
are attached as an appendix but are sited in each exercise.
Look and Point: This basic discovery exercise is used at the beginning in order to
break down the 4th wall. Students often have a tough time with this concept but it
is vital to clown work {CC I, III, IV, XVII}.
All the students on stage (or half if you have time) and nothing else, all props, chairs,
bags, shoes, etc. that are in the space are off limits. No music is played to underscore
or inform their actions. The students are instructed to:
• See something (imaginary) on the stage a distance away from them.
• Point at it while looking at the audience and expressing “ooooohhhh” (what is
that?).
• Move towards it, look at the audience and express “ahhhhhh” (this is exciting!!).
• Play with it until they discover what it is and use it.
• Turn to the audience and express “aaahaaa!!!” (I got it!).
• Then get distracted by another point on the stage and repeat the exercise many
times.
The students are not to work with each other (they will want to) and they will
constantly forget to look at the audience. You will find yourself saying “look at the
audience” many, many times.
This exercise is repeated later with music and when the hats, costumes and props
are introduced {CC III, VII, VIII}. Since they know the exercise sequence the surprise
introduction of actual objects and hats / costumes serves as a release to their clown
development.
The Elevator: This exercise focuses on the clown’s “secret want” – the obsessive
thing that motivates them {CC IV}. I play this in two parts, first before the students
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receive their noses and then again after, in order to establish technique then to put
it into practice. It is also a handy exercise to play with as a warm up for
subsequent sessions when you need to get the students back into the mindset of
their clowns.
Instruct the clowns (or prospective clowns without noses) to form a group, standing
or squatting as close to each other as possible (Buffon Ball). Those in front need to
bend their knees. BTW clown with knees bent is always best. All face the front.
They are in an elevator. Play music (in this case better to play something popular see Use of Music). They must dance “secret want” but are not allowed to. They will
eventually succumb to the temptation and dance en masse {CC XII, XVI, XVII). When
the elevator door opens (music stops} they have to stop suddenly and look forward as
if nothing has happened (like a child being caught doing something they shouldn’t
have). Then the doors close and the music starts again.
Add other stimulus: The elevator stops suddenly, fall suddenly, the doors open and
there is Justin Bieber somebody popular and well known (always a fun mix of horror
and joy), all their favorite foods, tons of money, somebody they are attracted to…etc.
The only rule is that they must remain in a group and can not leave the elevator.
This works on the physical tension held in the body when they want to move
towards it or away from it (what they want or don’t want) but can not (see Mission
Impossible).
Charge of the bum brigade: I use this as a right of passage exercise prior to the
students receiving their noses. Find any right of passage that will work for you but it
should be something extreme, silly and physically demanding. If you model it first
they will follow you. This is an opportunity to set the parameters of expression
very high.
• All students participate in this exercise.
• Form two lines facing each other. These are the opposing clown armies and
they are about to go to war. The reason is that one army wants all the food,
power, land (but food is best) that the other has and visa versa – use of clown
logic {CC IV}.
• Announce that they are all on horse back and wait until they mime being on
a horse (usually 2-3 seconds), then sit down on the ground with your legs
together and in front of you and say something along the lines of, “but you ride
like this”. They should follow you into this position.
• Raise your right arm like you were holding a sword “this is your weapon” they all
follow, “however it is more ceremonial use than for actual hitting” (safety).
• Demonstrate how to ride their horse. Charge forward, retreat, flank to the left
or right. Vocally commit to the war like CHARGE, RETREAT, GO LEFT,
GO RIGHT, CHARGE!! Actual movement is done by scooting forwards,
backwards and sideways (more like bouncing sideways) while seated with your
legs forward.
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• With the two armies placed and ready, set the scene (pre dawn, an ominous
mist, a general giving a pep talk, remind them of the food awaiting them…). The
object is for each army to pass through the other army and end up on the other
side.
• Step to the side a yell CHARGE! And all the other commands as needed over
their war cries until each side reach the other side.
• Stand them all up and call “Attention!” Form them into two lines (ranks) facing
each other.
• Have them face away from each other (about face) and present them with
their noses. Keep this very serious. They are to place their noses on and get
used to them before turning, on a command, to face each other.
• Before they turn to each other explain that whatever they are feeling is alright as
long as they are true to it. This is a big ask but I have found that a vast
majority of students understand and work with it well.
• When they turn and see each other they will giggle. Let that happen but then
encourage them to do nothing except breath and be true to what they are
feeling without indicating it. Many will try to do something amusing to dodge
what they may be feeling. Have them keep eye contact with the facing line of
clowns. Encourage them to do nothing but breath and be where they are. {CC III,
XII, XIV)
o Maintaining a military scenario is a great set up to discussing the nature of
clown a la drill sergeant {CC IX, X}. Often they will start to mock you when
your back is turned. Play with this.
Tragical Mirth: This exercise can be done with or without noses (I prefer with) and
should be done once they are warmed up. It demonstrates how similar grief and
hysteria can be and sound like and sets a level of commitment that they may not be
used to. In some cases it opens the gates to true emotion being expressed on a
grand scale {CC V, XII, XIV XV}. It is important at first to do this as a group,
including the teacher, since there is safety in the anonymity of the group. Explain
how this game will run and how many cycles it will go through so that it can run
without interruption. I find two cycles is sufficient and quite exhausting, but three
may be needed to draw out those who are holding back.
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All clowns face each other, either in the two lines formed after or before the Charge
of the Bum Brigade or in a circle at some other stage of the workshop as needed.
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All together start off with a little smirk which leads to a giggle. Keep eye contact
with each other throughout. The giggle grows into a laugh which gets bigger and
bigger into a level of hysteria which involves falling on the ground, slapping ones
legs…etc.
At the height of the hysteria the group switches to wailing in extreme grief. The
most profound howling and open sound lamentations, exclaiming to the gods
(physically and vocally) and despair. This slowly decreases in level of profound
sadness, then to grief, to deeply upset, to crying, to whimpering and to a passing sad
thought.
The group switches from this passing sad thought toThe group switches from this
passing sad thought to a little smirk and the cycle is run again.
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Variations: Have a single clown go through this exercise in front of the rest. Very
advanced and may require side coaching to keep them real and not
resorting to pantomime.
Divide class into groups of 2 to 4 (preferably 2). Ask them to create a
scene that includes this exercise. Share with the group. {CC V, XII,
XIII, XIV, XV, XVII}. Can be the beginning of creating Clown skits.
Grandma’s footsteps: This is a great game for focus and is played a lot in
drama classes but when applied to clown it adds additional elements which can be
used to teach the importance of breath, the “secret want” and connection to the
audience. It also helps to develop their clown characters (although I never tell them
that so that their instincts are free to work without being task oriented). {CC I, X,
XII, XIV}
• All clowns can participate in this game, or if time allows divide class in half to
allow for an additional audience.
• All clowns wear their noses and whatever hat costume they have discovered.
• One clown is “it” and stands at one end of the room. All the other “player”
clowns stand at the other end of the room behind a starting line or touching a
wall.
• When the “it” clown turns his/her back on the “player” clowns they must
advance towards the “it” clown.
o Instruct the “it” clown to always turn towards the “players” with their
nose leading the rest of their head and body. They should also turn
away from the “players” with their nose being the last to turn. (Mask and
nose technique – first thing and last thing audience sees is the mask or
nose).
• When the “it” clown turns back to face the “player” clowns they must freeze.
Anyone caught moving is sent back to the starting line.
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Continue playing the game until one of the “player” clowns tags the “it” clown.
That “player” clown then become “it” and the game starts again.
Both the “it” clown and the “player” clowns instantly see the importance of the
emotional story being relayed through the eyes because they have all become
audience members to each other. The tension, apprehension, fear, joy, ambition,
…etc held in their bodies in this competitive game demonstrates (as observers and
practitioners) the need for full physical immersion into the emotional state of the
clown without having to tell them.
Variations: Play the game with music; this will impact the clown’s emotional
world {CC XI, XIII}.
Have all the clowns play the game using the audience, where the
teacher or ½ class is seated. After each step have the clowns transfer
their gaze towards the 4th wall to engage the audience while breathing
and remaining present to their individual tension...etc experienced during
game play {CC I, XII, XIV, XVII}.
Have the “player” clowns advance together as a tight group, or Buffon
Ball {CC XII, XVI).
Clown names: As soon as the clown students discover their hats and bits of
costume their personalities and names will emerge. The ones who are trying too
hard will create a character based on their hat/costume rather than
allowing/discovering that the hat/costume speaks to something in their own
character, often subconsciously. It is vital to refer to them by this emerging
persona. They will identify with it because they have discovered it.
Naming starts very simply by referring to them by what they are wearing,
“Pants on head Clown” (actually trousers) is one of my favorites, but will evolve as
their personalities develop and they take more and more risks: “Toque Ball Clown”
because she was wearing a toque with a yellow ball on top, became “Weight of the
World Clown” as different exercises revealed her deep sense of responsibility towards
the other clowns on stage. However the toque remained as a costume because it
became the safety blanket on her head as she dealt with the all the other clowns.
I have found that the students become attached to their Clown name very quickly and
see it as a badge of honour when a name sticks. However avoid forcing names
beyond a description of what they are wearing as it may offer an easy way out to their
true Clown development.
Mission impossible: There is only one way for the teacher and student to fully
discover and understand how a clown character will develop and that is through what
their response is to a given situation. Ideally you want to provide a scenario where
the task is impossible to accomplish without breaking some basic laws of physics
and logic. This is where clown logic is discovered by the participants and leads
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to laughter from the audience. It is important that the clowns discover this by
themselves and are not told how to solve the problem. Part of what makes clowns
enjoyable to watch is their natural human reaction given an impossible situation and
then their triumph over it (no matter how absurd). There are endless scenarios for
this. You will constantly side coach “look at the audience”. Every time something
happens they must share that reaction with the audience. This must become second
nature {CC I, III, XV, XVII}. Be creative but here are a few Mission Impossible
scenarios that I use:
• Stand them on a chair, play music to set the emotional tone and tell them to
get off the chair without touching the floor.
• In groups of 3, 4 or 5 depending on the workshop size set the scene that there
is a giant chasm that they must cross as a group (this is important that they do it
as a group, not one at a time {CC II, XVI}. Use blocks if possible, but markers
on the floor also work. A fall into the chasm is death. That is all they need to
know. Let them rehearse it for 5 to 10 minutes and then present to the rest of
the group (beginning of clown devising). Play music that they are not expecting
to hear. Throw them off {CC XI}. I have seen clowns perform incredibly acrobatic
group movements, learn to fly, sling shot each other, build a bridge out of the
lower status clowns, move the blocks together and just step over – anything goes
so long as it is discovered and responded to in the moment.
• Ask a clown to go on stage and place a chair / stool center stage. They will
never get it right. As the teacher, constantly correct them. “That’s not center,
that’s down center right, that’s up of center, that’s center left…” Then call out
another clown to help them – they will never get it right. Add another clown.
Have them all work together. This exercise starts to build the double think of
clown – the actor in control who is actually getting frustrated with the teacher and
the clown who has no idea what is going on. The teacher is trying to elicit a
genuine emotional response from the student which will be amplified through the
clown character that is starting to evolve. This exercise also starts to develop a
status structure between clowns as they interact over this simple task. It
becomes evident who is the leader clown, who is the functionary and who is the
runt, thus helping the clown students (watching and participating) to discover
where they fall in the comedic rule of 3.
Use of music
Music is a great tool when working with clowns. It dramatically sets the tone and the
level of emotional investment required while subconsciously raising the stakes. The
vast majority of music I use is drawn from Film Soundtracks. The reason for this is
that they are composed on an emotionally extreme level, are designed to underscore
the grand emotion of a cinematic scene while deeply affecting the emotional
responses of the individual viewer on a personal level. Additionally the
soundtracks lack lyrics which would give ideas and intellectual / pop culture
reference points to the clown student thus curbing an emotional response. These
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reference points in popular songs can be fun to play with and have their place
(Elevator Exercise) but one just has to experience a workshop of clowns
where “Gangnam Style” becomes the limit of their creativity once to know that it may
not be a good idea.
Eventually it is great as a clown to know the music you are playing with so that you
can react in rhythm or in counter rhythm to the delight of the audience; however
during training I like to constantly change up what the broad stroke emotional score of
any scene is in order to keep them on their toes and reacting instinctually {CC II, XI,
XIII}.
Taking it further
Bear in mind that Clown shows are derived from Clown skits that are linked
together, which are derived from moments that are created / discovered in Clown
exercises. Be sure to make note of moments that happen throughout all the training
and use them as the impetus to creating a story or elements of a story that can be
linked.
Practitioners Pathway
The culmination of this workshop is a result of the writings and teachings of Lecoq,
Pochenko, Gaulier, Johnstone and Stanislavsky who have influenced my Teachers
and Directors: Pierre Lefevre, Perry Schneiderman, Leah Cherniak, Adrian Hall, Jim
McNabb, Laird Evans, Jane Moore, Johnson Moretti, Robin Phillips, Sue Morrison
and Kathleen Cornish; and the artists who have inspired and taught me through
their work when I first came to clown: Scott Florence, Margo MacDonald, Heather
Jopling and Maureen Welch; and the countless other performers and over a
thousand clown students who have constantly challenged me to keep working on
and discovering this ever evolving art form.
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The clown commandments
Give them a copy at the end of the class. Just read it
to them first.
I.
The audience is your friend (play-thing).
II.
The Gods may surprise you. If something unexpected happens, USE it!
III.
Everything is a discovery.
IV.
Obsession is normal, until you’re distracted.
V.
If it happens it’s real. If you created it, it’s real.
VI.
The environment is alive. Everything can become anything.
VII.
Costume is less important than a state of being. Except for your hat.
VIII.
Without your hat you are naked.
IX.
Don’t forget your nose.
X.
Fight authority.
XI.
Music & rhythm effect your movement, breath, emotions and timing.
XII.
Breathing is listening.
XIII.
Everything will affect you.
XIV.
Emotions are deeply felt.
XV.
Highs and lows are shared with the audience.
XVI.
The closer you are to each other the safer you will be.
XVII. There is no 4th wall.
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