Nov 9th - 13th

Lead Teacher: Kimberley Twiner

The Somatic Clown Journey is a great gift to every stage actor who wants to become aware of what is uniquely comedic about them. This is a process created and refined by Giovanni Fusetti and which I have learned to teach. The Somatic Clown Journey is directly related to the study of Neutral Mask. In Neutral Mask we wish to calm our idiosyncrasies, we want to become neutral, to clear the slate to prepare to put on character masks - for theatre is a practice of wearing masks. However, The Somatic Clown Journey is a process parallel to this where we embrace and celebrate what is non-neutral about us and amplify it - voila we have a comedic form!

So, we will find your clown form by working with… YOU. Your body is already wonderfully stupid and we will go hunting to find what is hiding in plain sight, to amplify your natural stupidity. This amplification of stupidity will lay the bones of play for your ‘clown form’ or ‘clown mask’. The word stupid, comes from Latin ‘stupere’ which means to be in awe, amazed or stunned. We use the word stupid in its positive and regenerative sense - for being available to wonder is naive. Clown work must contain a play of wonder, a play of amazement. Each clown character will engage in the world with a unique sense of stupidity. To be stupid is wonder-full.

Our clown journey will be a process of awareness building and attunement of play. There are two key processes of learning in this course 1) discovering your clown form to make comic work and 2) physical theatre skills training from the Fusetti-Lecoq lineage. The clown form will be seen via a process of mirroring and amplifying. There will be certain movement patterns in the body that, once we are aware of them, we can play them. Then, clown-actor has an endless field of comic possibilities to play with. Across the five days we will cover the fundamentals of performing in the clown state.

Finding The Clown Form

-Personal movement analysis, mirroring

-Embodied amplification as your clown mask emerges

-Consolidating rhythm, tempo, bodily shape

-Finding status

-Finding voice

-Finding costume

-Finding the name

The Clown State

-The performers eyes, breath and body engagement

-Relationship with the audience, full eye contact

-Practising ‘affect attunement’ the clown must engage in heightened emotional play

Mask Technique

-The technique of the articulation the mask

-Principles of Commedia dell’Arte and lazzi

-Lecoq’s 20 Movements

-Gesture, pantomime and Action Mime

-Physical engagement required for the stage

Playing and Improvisation

-Techniques of improvising with solo and duos

-Status play

-Non-verbal improvisation tasks

-Noticing the themes to create physical comedy

-Action and reaction, crescendo

Feedback Process

-Performers will receive feedback from the teacher throughout the process

-Maintaining and sustaining the masked state

Clown work is mask work. Mask work is embodied play underpinned by a clear foundation of technique. Humans have been putting on masks and telling stories for a very long time. These 5 days will invite you to find a clown form. It will be a very clear and urgent mask for comedy, storytelling and anything else it dreams up!

This course is in line with ‘The Somatic Clown Journey’ a pedagogic process devised and refined by Giovanni Fusetti. Giovanni has been my main teacher since 2017. As a performer I have studied many theatrical territories under his tutelage. I am one of five Australians to have completed ‘An Advanced Training in the Pedagogy of Movement Theatre’ at Helikos School (Italy) in 2019. Since then I have accumulated 500+ hours in the role of pedagogic assistant with Giovanni Fusetti. My practice has been concretized in the Lecoq lineage of mask, mime and movement theatre. Please read my blog on the process here.

Dates and Times:

9.30am - 4.00pm

Mon 9th Nov - Fri 13th Nov

**It is compulsory to attend all classes as this is a strict learning continuum aka one class leads into the next. You cannot skip any portions of class

Venue: Pascoe Vale Uniting Church, 10 Cumberland Rd, Pascoe Vale

Prices

Deposit: $250.00 NON-REFUNDABLE

Early bird price (Full payment due by Sept 9th): $675.00

Normal early price (Full payment completed after Sept 9th): $750.00

Once accepted into the course you are required to pay a non-refundable deposit which secures your place in the course. Failure to pay within 5 days will see your place forfeited. If you are paying the entire fee straight up please know that it contains the deposit.

Read the refund policy here.

Minimum participants: 8

Maximum participants: 10

Minimum number of participants must be enrolled by Oct 9th for the workshop to go ahead.

APPLY VIA EMAIL

To apply please send a letter of motivation to Kimberley Twiner at ktwiner@gmail.com

In your letter please address:

Your existing physical theatre practice (short bio of previous training and shows)

Your experience with Lecoq theatre work

Why clown? Why now?

Any other driving provocations or inspirations that pull you towards this work.

A note on AI. Please do not use AI to generate your letter, this is not a job application, it is not about you ‘looking good’ it is about you expressing your drives, motivations, urgencies and poetic visions. We are fierce resistors of the plagiarizing machine that is known as AI. We deplore its impact on ecology, society and creativity. AI is inherently uncreative and applications shaped by AI will not be accepted.

Any questions can be directed straight to melbphysicaltheatreschool@gmail.com or call Kimberley on 0468664466.