INTENSIVE COURSE- THE CLOWN

GABRIEL CHAME BUENDIA

“Many circus men have lost the essential nature of the clown. This essence, in the way it is offered by the best traditional clowns, is found in the fundamental weakness of the human being, in the particularities that in a certain sense make each of us a “failure”. To find our clown we have to seek our essential weaknesses, recognize them, experiment them, show them and publicly make fun of them, and incidentally, make others laugh.”
                    Jacques Lecoq

IN SEARCH OF THE HIDDEN CLOWN

In this course we will try to overcome fear of ridicule, discover a clown of our own and thus compose a character.

The clown is that part in each one of us, (the ridiculous one) that makes people laugh and feel. With this objective in mind, it is necessary to let go completely, authentic and generously.
To want to make an audience laugh, wait for the reaction joyfully, and become conscious that nobody laughs.  That’s what ridiculous means! A good experience for our dignity, a true and uncomfortable feeling. Ignoring it, hiding it, won’t work, obviously, and it is one of the first experiences for someone who wants to make people laugh.

The clown, unknowingly, unable to understand, believes in everything and tries to do everything right, in such an extremely positive manner, that he/she’s left out of society. An anti-hero who re-encounters innocence, simplicity and a mature conscience of childhood.

The clown-course allows finding this essence and above all is a lot of fun.

THE CLOWN ACTOR

Clowns work with the raw material that nourishes acting; freedom to play, imagination in the body, and poetry. They are instrumental actors who, acknowledging their possibilities, function on the stage within their own universe, perceiving the essence of the characters they interpret. In this way, Shakespeare,Molière, Chelov, Becket… will be enriched thanks to the irreverent lack of solemnity of the clown.

POINTS TO WORK ON

INTENSIVE COURSE-THE BUFFOON

Direction by : GABRIEL CHAME BUENDIA

(The fool, the critic, the bastard)

Working on the buffoon is dealing with monstrosity, the monster we have inside, a monster that’s critical with society.

What God stole from his image, the Devil gave to his intelligence.

The buffoon curses and criticises God’s sons (us), but with a suspicious and masterful intelligence, as they can’t do it coarsely, otherwise our society would kill them, exterminate them like rats.

The buffoon can tease someone in his presence, their pleasure is visible when everybody laughs, and in their eyes there will be a spark of evilness observing the mocked, bothered person bearing the irony. But if the buffoon sees that things are turning against him and his fragile existence is in danger, he will beg pardon, admit his guilt, he’ll cry and touch everyone’s feelings, and when he sees the first tear on his victim’s face, a devilish laughter will rise from him confirming the mockery.

The buffoon is opposite to the clown, and therefore complementary. They speak the same language but the buffoon is vertical and the clown is horizontal, the buffoon travels between God and the Devil, and the clown is down on earth with the humans and the fools. But the buffoon is not a fool. Their physical or mental deformities grant them a fearful intelligence. Working on the buffoon we connect with a fantastic and mystical world while playing to criticize society.

POINTS TO WORK ON

We work basically in groups (attention and position in the game).

Physical and mental deformity, costumes and fillings to create deformities.

Parody: the buffoons lived all together in swamps and gave parties to avoid boredom where they would mock and imitate the people of society, the sons of God.

Developing a critical and suspicious intelligence.

The buffoons are the Devil’s sons.

HOW TO GET INSPIRED?

Going to El Prado and once again observing Bruguel, Goya and his Black Period, Velazquez, going to churches and observing the gargoyles, but above all watching the homeless, the beggars, the junkies, the transvestites…in the tube, streets and churches… They’re the modern buffoons.

REQUIREMENT

Being willing to develop slyness and criticism, daring to undergo the physical strength the course requires, and having lots and lots of clothes to bring to the course.

THE BUFFOON, directed by Gabriel Chamé Buendía

(The fool, the critic, the bastard)

The buffoon is a bastard, a cripple, a one-handed, a midget, a transvestite, a witch, a heretic priest, a beggar, a fool. He was not chosen by the gods, he was margined in the swamps, in the ghettos, by the sons of God. It was decreed that, given their physical and moral ugliness, their father couldn’t be a great artist of international fame. His father was the opposite of God, his father was the Devil. The buffoon was the Devil’s son, who has always been very proud and happy of being the first to seduce the first woman; Eve.

The buffoon takes a special pleasure in having fun; in blaspheming our society. Beware of him.

It is a pity that Mr.Bush, Mr.Aznar and so many other masters of the world haven’t followed the ancient tradition of having a buffoon in their courts, with the important duty of mocking them and their subjects, with humour and intelligence, as was customary in the beginning of the last millennium. Many massacres would’ve undoubtedly been avoided.