Recently Ciara Thorburn [circus artist, clown pirate (CC Member) and facilitator & instigator of such excellent things as the Spin Circus Festival & Circus Garage Sale Facebook group] did a course at the famous (or infamous) Ecole Philippe Gaulier (The Gaulier Clown School). As Ciara was doing it she posted a daily diary on Facebook which was such a good read I asked if we could post it here on Carnival Cinema so it could be saved and shared.
Thank you Ciara, for generously sharing your experience!
I hope you all enjoy,
Cheers Hamish
Day 6#
I am greeted by the boss at Café Du Depart with a kiss on each cheek this morning. I notice him curiously wondering what I write about each morning, he doesn’t ask. Manuel speaks to me fluently in French when I arrive, finally with a smile, “Café Ole mademoiselle?”.
Movement
Today we do a long warmup with Tom Tom, its nice. We do some basic acro yoga exercises which the class is quite excited about, I base a few birds on feet and its nice to see my classmates to excited about flying. I do however, skip attempting feet to feet with the students, as Tom Tom demonstrated..
– We play musical chairs, you must do a clown dance connecting with the audience, and if you miss out on a chair the focus is thrown to you. If you make us laugh (or if we like you), you can stay. Save yourself from the flop.
With twelve odd students per game, Tom Tom begins eliminating clowns regardless, which is a little disheartening. This exercise takes the rest of the class, a little frustrating. It seems like these classes are moving slower, I prefer shorter games where not everyone has to have a turn at every exercise. I note this for my clown workshops I will be teaching at EJC next week. It occurs to me that competitive complicitae is an interesting and difficult task, after re-reading a friend and fellow Gaulier clown’s blog (thankyou @Vaughan Crole). With so many clowns being so physically big, it is difficult to be ‘subtle’ and grasp the audience’s attention. Again, the contrast between subtle and big is such a difficult balance. I am thinking about focusing on complicitae today, as it occurs to me that our class is not focussing on it enough here. Later today with Phillippe the focus of the class will turn to this aspect of clown.
I am feeling a bit low energy, antisocial, and grumpy over lunch, as everyone excitedly puts together their costumes, I sit by myself. I put my costume together five minutes before we go in. I look at myself in costume, through the reflection of the glass doors at the entrance of the studio. I wonder what is behind those doors for us today, in the blazing lights and silhouetted faces of the audience comprised of Philippe, his wife Michiko who has recently joined us, and my fellow clowns. There has also been another face in the audience, another teacher it seems, who sits in on the classes, though we have never been introduced. This makes me feel a bit invaded, a bit vulnerable, as both her and Michiko sit knowingly in the audience. The comradery I feel with my fellow clowns is strong and fair, we all have to do the exercises. And although I don’t know their backgrounds or reasons for being there, I feel intimidated by our guests. Philippe will sometimes ask obvious questions of the clown, or the audience, and as respectful students, we don’t answer the obvious, we give the clown onstage space and try to let them figure it out for themselves. I notice our guests answer the bleeding obvious questions quickly.
Philippe
I find a great facebook group called ‘Philippe Gaulier hit me with a stick’, it is full of the boundless, ridiculous and non-sensical insults that Philippe has spat at students over the years. I also find a quote from a student, which I cannot stop thinking about.
Philippe Gaulier started teaching us; the class meeting several times a week. He was the kindest, nicest, most understanding teacher I ever had. He asked for a small photo of each of us. The kind you get in a photo booth. One students after we had all done this, which we thought was a little odd. Asked him why? Philippe Gaulier told us, “I looks at them every night in order to see you.” (Stanley Allan Sherman)
Someone comments on this thread “Whether you believe what Philippe says or not, it is the effect that his words have on you that is important, I think.” Later after class as Josie packs to leave, I overhear him say to her “Goodbye beautiful”. I love clowns.
Costumes
As soon as I enter the room, my mood instantly changes. I feel so safe and secure in my costume, its like a giant mask, once I have my nose on. He sends five clowns up onstage, I jump up, as I have easy access from the front row. He asks us to walk slowly toward the audience (to elevator music), feeling proud of our new costumes. I walk, easily feeling a sense of pride and stupidity, we stop when the music stops. He questions the first clown about their costume, asks them to sing a song, meanwhile I fiddle adjusting my physicality.
My janitor onesie is oversized and I discover it is easy to condense my features, to create a long torso and short legs, I hunch my back a little, and sit my neck back in my spine. I try not to overdo it, but its fun. He asks me of my costume, I answer with my normal Australian accent, “The grumpiest cleaning lady in Melbourne airport.” He orders me a yellow raincoat, a mop and bucket, they appear onstage from on of his assistants. It occurs to me that this is exactly what I wanted, I gratefully accept. I cant help but start to think of all the possibilities of comedic problems the mop holds, as I hold the bucket and begin to subtly play, dodging my face around the dirty head of the mop. However, its someone else’s turn and my thoughts return to complicitae and focus onstage. The focus returns to me and he asks me to sing, in a low voice, I sing the first sounds that come out in a short and low gibberish tune. Michiko laughs, some of the audience laugh. I look at them with pride, and repeat my nonsensical tenor tune. I hear Philippe snort, twice… did I just make him laugh?
“We liek err like zis, no?” he comments.
He goes through the rest of the clowns in the class one by one. I notice they stay more in character in costume while they’re onstage, which I like. He sends a lot of clowns back to get new costumes, as they are not easily identifiable in their stereotypical characters. After class, a number of people comment to me that my clown ‘really came out today’. I find this odd, as I feel so familiar with this character, but I’m still happy to hear it. I consider putting some white under my eyes tomorrow… why am I so drawn to trad clown here… I assume it’s because the circus in me is what sets me apart. But I am also still so self-conscious of appearing different or attention-seeking to everyone else. I worry again that these habits will hold me back here.
I notice that Philippe plays with us as he teaches. He actually demonstrates the essence of clown through his teaching, he is alike a grumpy clown. I need to pay more attention to the way he teaches, and how his teaching is full of clown. He asks for ten clowns to sit on opposite sides of the stage, I stay seated in the audience, I am still monitoring my stickiness. He asks a male clown to approach and ask in fluent French (but the clown does not know how to speak French) a female clown to dance. The clowns play into their costumes, I wonder if this is correct, but my thoughts move on. Studying his feedback, I begin to understand “YOO MOOF TOO MUCH” meaning that we are not being subtle, that the clown is overacting to trying too hard.
“We haf very good fun? Or iz ee a priest oo has dhiscoverehd ee is a paedophile.”
Philippe comments about the contrast in clown performance. Different rhythms and different clowns, create opposite conflict (or a problem). Someone asks if the clowns can begin with the same rhythm, and then show contrast. Philippe answers that it is possible, but the audience might leave. He says we cannot play without conflict. We must have the pleasure to pretend that we speak French, and share our pleasure with the audience.
Fransisco and Josie get up, I still love watching Fransisco, but it feels like the last few days in class he has lost his pleasure in being there. I wonder how he is finding the course. I feel like Philippe is very invested in him. He cuts their dance short, restarts it twice, and gives him a triple zehro, sending him back to his seat. I disagree with Philippe’s comments, thinking that I saw pleasure, stupidity, and play in their act. Class finishes and I don’t get a turn in this exercise. I speak to Fransisco briefly after class, telling him I liked it.
At night I do some research and read somewhere that Philippe says he doesn’t teach birthday party clown, or street clown, or circus clown, he teaches beautiful clown. That is why I’m here.
Ciara Thorburn
*You can read the other days here:
Ciara Thorburn
Circus Artist, Variety Performer, Children’s Entertainer, Clown, MC, Cabaret Luminary and human being.
Ciara is a passionate, progressive and creative circus artist based in Melbourne, Australia. An avid art critic in her past life, Ciara has combined her passion for conceptual art with entertainment in an inimitable fusion of variety skill with clowning. Ciara defies expectations, using everyday objects in extraordinary ways, and has a knack for turning the mundane into the astonishing with her unique character work.
Ciara Links
We acknowledge the Arakwal people of the Bundjalung Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which this Magazine originates and pay our respects to their elders past, present and future.
The way we do things around here is that regardless of Age, Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity our philosophy and our logo stands for inclusion, safety, connection and family.
*If you’ve enjoyed this post (and this magazine) and you believe this project is adding value to our awesome subculture and community please consider supporting it by becoming a Carnival Cinema Member for the price of a beer or cup of coffee each month.
