The Grace of Middletown

“Middletown” Analysis

I was lucky enough to be able to usher “Middletown” during it's entire run. I was able, on some days, to watch the show. I saw it twice and was very observant of everyones movement on the stage.

At the top of the show, the Mechanic enters from vom left and sat at a bench on stage right. The Cop enters and they have a verbal argument for a while before the Cop attacks the Mechanic. I noticed that the Cop was holding the baton just in front of the Mechanic’s throat. The Mechanic had both hands on the baton protecting his throat. The Mechanic has complete control of the Cop and the baton. The Cop releases the Mechanic and the Mechanic then rolls of the bench and does a controlled front fall to he ground. This was a very exciting way to begin the show.

I noticed, throughout the play, that Mary Swanson had a floating quality to her walk. She would take gentle steps and her chin faced upwards, giving her a lifted look. On the other hand, John had a more potent quality to him. He stumped a little which gave him a heavy quality. His steps were heavy and he moved vertically a lot.

Near the end of the show, the entire cast enters the stage and do a Native American dance. I do not know how authentic it was, but I am no expert. Everyone moved in sync; keeping each other in their view. They had a potent energy as they danced and stomped the floor.

 I really enjoyed “Middletown” and was honored to be a part of it. Once again, Metro had proven itself a very good school.

Movement in Middletown

Movement in Middletown varied from people interacting and scene shifts.  In one scene, a police officer was haggling a homeless so they were physically touching and when the homeless man left, a lady came in the scene that started to talk to the police officer.  Some other movements I noticed were different ways many characters would walk and stand while they were speaking out to the audience.  Towards the end of the play all the characters came out to the stage and danced in a circle.  They stayed in a formation big enough to let someone in the middle who was singing loudly.

The best scene was probably when the astronaut was finally shown hovering just below the ceiling.  The only noise I could hear was the satellite communication between someone on earth and the man in space.  He explained how the world looked from far away and it sounded so pleasant.  Also the stars in the background were very well depicted by the lighting that was hung, probably my favorite special effects in the performance.

As for character development throughout the duration of the play, I not only enjoyed watching the homeless man but the police officer as well.  In the very beginning the officer showed very low remorse for others but as the play went on, story revealed more about him.  About three quarters into the play he finally opens up about his problems and he is almost on the verge of tears.  That scene represented that everyone has their own troubles and no one is invincible.  Overall I loved this play and would recommend it with high approval.

Most of the movement on stage was slow and steady walking, I didn't notice anyone really running or do any rolls we practiced in class.  Eventually, someone layed down on a bench but it was mostly the dialogue in the play that told the story.

The Clownlympics

My father did a lot of clowning when he was in college, it was his favorite thing, and he shared it with me but I never really was able to appreciate it until I could study it for myself. The clown Olympics was that moment for me, when I was finally really able to appreciate the craft that it took, it was fun and freeing and I loved every second of it.

The first group (my group) had so much fun with all the ideas that we could not decide on just one event for our Olympics. We decided to do several and they were all so fun to do. We all had our individual ideas and the issues that came along with them, as did the group that chose to go fishing! We were all entirely engaged with our bodies, even when we had no props but our hats, and everything was very believable! The first group used the different stage-falls, some rolls and jumps, and the second group used some jumps, and cartwheels (just the ones I remembered). Everyone had their own unique characters and employed many of the techniques we learned in this class.

There was not a moment I did not enjoy from last week's class. Wish all classes at Metro could be half this fun.

Clown-lympics: Showcase and Review.

The Clown-lympics was an interesting test; No pencils, no paper, all the hats and tricks.

Organized into two groups, there was Bryan, Tatum, Gustavo, Jordan and Ashara, followed by Scott,
Zayne (yep, butchered that one) Nikki, Aubrey and myself.

The first group took the Clown-lympics as a literal approach. We saw sporting events pertaining to the Olympics where each clown failed or succeeded to perform various olympic-y things. In there group I saw front rolls (front and back), falls (both feigned and realistic) and jumps (assemble, and other jumps). It was fun to watch, and also scary...

On a side note, every time Bryan, Gustavo, and Tatum have a silent performance, there is accidental falling involved. Thank the lo'd that the next performance has lines.

Following was my group.

We came together to form a linear plot line of a failed fishing day. We thought of a place, and activity, and obstacles and came up with a short story. It was fun and interesting to come up with something so dependent on being collaborative; my fellow group members contributions was very helpful.

We started by introducing the characters one by one, using the required stunts and tricks and such.

We had rolls, a cartwheel, and some jumps.

During the middle of the scene we had falling over backwards, a tackling of a fake fish (that counts as a fall, right?) and I managed to throw some, probably unnecessary, hat tricks at the very end after we lost the fish and I blamed Zayne (still butchering it). I'm looking forward to doing the Seuss project and utilizing all of our accumulated tricks with lines and a good pants story.

A Dream Come True

I remember when I was really young, I did want to be a clown. Not the scary ones, but what we had discussed in class. The Clownlympics was truly a dream come true. I enjoyed how seriously everyone took the challenge. Each group gave their all, came up with clever ideas, and presented a pretty polished finished product. I loved the second group that did the fishing scene. They set up the scenario very well; I knew immediately what they were doing. No one went over board or had too much frantic energy. Everything was focused and well executed. I was truly impressed by my colleagues last week. Thank you guys for a really great day.

Clownolympics

Sorry i forgot to do this until now! So i thought that the first groups performance was very funny! i liked all the different acts that they put in, like throwing the rock thing, i cant remember what its called. I liked how each character had his/her own problem. also playing with Brian's bigness and being tall and muscular with the different activities was a very funny idea!
Then with our group i remember being hung over a fish which was funny because i dont really care about fish, but it was fun to do and i like how Audrey was very happy at the end compared to the beginning.
With the music i felt like we were part of a tribe telling stories, almost like cave men but we were clowns!

Memories of clowns

My favorite part of the clown Olympics was seeing everyone in the class take it so seriously because there was no clowning around when it came to having fun. I enjoyed how my group let everyone talk and take part in the actual event of planning the clown fishing event and no one clown overrode anyone else. I liked in our clown fishing event the opening scene the best were each clown got to take the stage in their own particular way. This gave us a chance to work on our very own unique entrance that let the audience see expressions of ourselves while still meeting stage movement expectations. I rolled.

The clown Olympics the other group displayed concerning the shot put and other events was truly inspirational. Some of the most fun clown movements occurred when the miming aspect became so straining to the clown you could actually see their entire body working and straining. Again, I like how this clown performance gave each clown, their own chance to have the spot light. From the miming of track and field to actually forming a physical pyramid, I saw some great clowns using their bodies honestly.

Homework, You Clowns

Okay, THIS was supposed to have posted two weeks ago...darn you, Blogger app on my iPad...

-------------------------------------------
I forgot to post/declare your homework, so here tis:

--the MA clowning readings if you didn't do them for today

--Coloring book pages 52, 152, 153

Pic is me as a jester character entrancing a mostly kid audience in The Merry Go Round Players' fractured Shakespeare series. Look at that kid in the close background--it's the most magical thing that's ever happened to him!   ~Prof. Jenn

Another clown sporting event

I thought this might interest you, as it's of a similar era as Chaplin's boxing bit but a very different (yet just as famous) clown competing. Plus, javelin and pole vault.   ~Jenn

http://youtu.be/3l-MHJ3XHJM

Clowning Around

Today was fun. The first group that went did actual sporting events.  They were caught in the spotlight and "asked" to do three events.  There was much harm to several of the clowns though no actual harm occurred.  From what I recall, there was a front fall, a back fall, a back roll, a front roll, a side roll, a cartwheel, a collapsed pyramid, and a lot of humor.  The events were well defined into the shock-put, the pole jump, and the human pyramid.  Each participant worked the event differently and had their own difficulties completing or not completing the event.

The second group, surprisingly, did fishing.  Each clown walked out and pulled out a fishing rod in their own way.  The last clown to produce a rod caught an enormous fish, I'm assuming.  It was definitely creepy to all the clowns.  There was a few falls and rolls but the amount of motion on stage swallowed a lot of them.  The part where they all lost the fish in the water after catching it on their hats was funny, especially when the last clown was the only one that didn't seemed bothered by the fact that the fish was lost to the waters to maybe be caught again someday.

Clown Olympics

During class today we performed the clown Olympics which gave us all very good experience identifying with our inner clown.  The first group did a performance where they all attempted to move an object which was much to heavy to lift up.  Finally, Bryan manged to pick it up and as he was throwing it between hands he fell over.  In the next scene everyone took turns moving across the mats while performing exercises we've covered throughout the semester.  Over all it was a very good scene that I was able to understand every part.

In my group's performance, we all split up to do separate rolls on the mats to get into out fishing poses.  Once this happened we were able to act out a scene of trying to fish something giant out of the water and manage to contain it.  Overall we found that by not grabbing the fish entirely we were able to act out a comedic routine through our personally clowning mannerisms.  Very great exercise today in class.

Clownlympics Review!

Today was our clownlympics, and it was a blast!

Nikki, Scott, Jason, Zayn, and Audrey did a fishing event. I thought this was a clever idea! Everyone came out to cast their fishing line in their own character, each differing from the last greatly. I especially loved Scott's big personality. Each character was exaggerated in different ways, and I liked the diversity of clowns I saw.

My group did a track meet that we unexpectedly walked in on! We were taking a stadium tour and walked in on a crowd waiting for the track events to happen. We did shot put, pole vault, and ended with a grand pyramid. The problem was to entertain the crowd by completing the events, and each of us completed the events in our own doofy way. By the end we were all exhausted and didn't want to be performing anymore.

I loved this performance, it helped us focus more on the physicality of a character, and how that creates different personalities. This will be very helpful for our final when we move on to our Seussian scenes!

"Be a Clown" response.

I am definitely intrigued by the different types of clowns that can be classified.  Depending on the overall appearance of the clown and actions he/she makes you can differentiate them from being a Whiteface, Auguste, or a Character.  In choosing the clown costume, it makes sense that you want to find things like a hat and other clothes that "refine your character" to draw out the clown in you.  Find clothes that really put you in that clowning mood so you can easier play the personality you want.  In Clown Rule #6, it states that "it is more important to think like a clown than to look like a clown", that statement tells me that your intended audience studies your actions and personality more closely than your appearance.  Also that you can wear whatever clothes you feel most comfortable in while having the mentality of a clown and people will still understand the humor you are conveying.

Clowning as an alternative method of treatment

Robins Williams plays a great clown in the film “Patch Adams” when he decides that he wants to make people laugh.  His career starts out when he is studying to be a doctor and decides the best form of medicine is laughter and fun.  Williams portrays a clown who wears a red nose cap and giant shoes that squeak when he walks.  His entire outfit is matched with a medical professional although he adds a few items that any other clown would wear.  By doing this it shows that he wants to fit into the hospital but also in a joking way.

Robin Williams uses great clown techniques by performing tricks for children.  He blows up balloons and morphs them into different animals.  Another thing he likes to do is pull out different toys from his pockets and things that are much too large to fit in his jacket so it looks funny.  As a clown, Williams uses a lot of motion.  His arms seem to always be flailing in the air and he’s always got something different to show people for comedic effect.

Williams shows how a clown can be happy at times and very sad at others.  He gives off a wide range of emotions due to the different people he encounters.  Some of his patients require serious medical work which laughter alone cannot fix, and other times he can simply do the trick by telling a few jokes and making a fool of himself.  This primarily works with the patients with mental disorders who are in need of therapists.

As a whole I would say Robin Williams showed me the significance of clown work; that you must truly understand your targeted audience and be able to relate with them in some way or another.  Find what stresses them out and make a joke out of it.   

I've got some 'splainin to do!

 

Lucille Ball

“That was Lucy: slapstick Garbo, female clown of the century, by every standard the First Lady of Television. I Love Lucy, her original series, was the most popular sitcom in TV history. In 1952 the show captured 67 of every 100 viewers at 9 on Monday nights, and for four of its six years (1951-57) on the air it ranked No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings. The Lucy Show (1962-68) and Here's Lucy (1968-74) ran for nine seasons in the Top 10. And for 32 years reruns of I Love Lucy have dominated the worldwide syndication market. As one fan said   "Every minute of the day, somewhere, someone is watching I Love Lucy.”

-          People Magazine, 1989

Lucille Ball was actually given the chance to start “I Love Lucy” because of a clown routine that she performed.   The television networks had originally rejected her request to do a series co-starring Desi Arnaz, her Cuban born husband.  They did not think the public would accept the two of them together.  So, to prove that their concept would work, Ball and Arnaz went on a tour of theaters and made a pilot film.  The basis for their act and film was a musical clown routine created by Pepito the Spanish Clown.  He supplied them with the props, including a gimmicked cello, and taught Lucy how to do his routine.  The success of the act and the film convinced CBS to allow the couple to try out their series.  Ball later repeated Pepito’s musical clown act in an episode of the show, and Pepito also performed some of his other routines as a guest star on another episode.

                Lucy Ricardo is an extremely physical character. All of her movements are big, even when she’s just doing dishes and brushing off her dress. I’ve noticed that often she either takes up a ton of space and needs plenty of room, or is right in someone else’s bubble of personal space. Along with her body movements, Lucille also had a rubber face. She could contort it into all sorts of crazy positions that sometimes don’t even seem possible. (I included an image of a common one) She was incredibly expressive with her mouth and used intense lip color to accent it. Her bright, doll like eyes were also an advantage, making her fascinating to watch.

http://idsegosandsuperegos.blogspot.com/2011/08/happy-100th-birthday-lucy-ricardo.html

 

The show itself uses physical humor and classic clown behavior. An episode usually consists of poor Lucy recognizing a problem, coming up with a scheme to remedy said problem. Then, her solution only makes things more complicated and creates an overwhelming mess for Lucy to scramble around fixing. Another common scenario is a misunderstanding between Lucy and her husband or their landlords. In an episode I watched the other day, the couple was on a cruise and Lucy was upset because Ricky was there as entertainment and had to work so she locked him in their room together. When he wanted to leave, she did everything in her power to distract him so he wouldn’t find out she lost the key. She started dancing with him, got him to inspect the furniture in their room, and threw things all over. When she decided to call for help, she yelled out their window and ended up getting stuck in it. Then, she tried all sorts of ways to get unstuck: pushing, bending, pulling, wiggling, shimmying, stretching. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous. The woman was an expert at appearing ditzy and out of control, which, ironically, takes a lot of precision.

                            https://www.pinterest.com/pin/88735055133449604/

 

-Audrey B

The Marx Brothers

Whilst I was reading Scott's clown review of the great W.C. Fields; I, too, was reminded of my father. My father loved that comedian, but the ones that were able to top Mr. Fields were a small group of, for lack of a better word, "gentlemen"; these gents were the Marx Brothers.

The Marx Brothers began in the same way as Fields, in the vaudeville circuits that toured the U.S. at the turn of the century. But where Fields was only one man performing great stand up material and fantastic feats of juggling and stunts; the Marx Brothers were four.

In the beginning you had...

Chico Marx- The wise cracking italian sardonic, usually of a down trodden or lowly sort of character.

Harpo Marx- The silent type, or at least he communicated with horns, bells, unimaginable faces, blow torches, pockets with a Tardis-like sense of mystery and anything else he can get his hands on. But oppositely he can play a harp that turn him from the funniest man in any room to the one that can steal your gaze

Zeppo Marx- The tenor voice and pretty boy that was able to keep up with the others, but as depicted in the films, he was really just a romantic lead to bring some sort of tie-in to the plot of the movie.

and finally

Groucho Marx- The inimitable quick wit and aesthetic that would bring the whole damn house down laughing.
He was undoubtedly the break away star and could easily carry on a film of just his material.

Separately, they were hilarious. Together, they were absolutely riotous.

They had wit and zingers, slapstick comedy galore, musical talent and physical comedy that would confound the audience and be the inspiration for generations of comics and performers. The mirror clip we saw as an example for class, was performed twenty years earlier by Harpo and Groucho in "Duck Soup".

Here's a link to an excerpt of their classic material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Gwe5gKgjo

Clown Project

I chose Carol Burnett as the clown for my project. She has always been one of my favorite actors and I've always found her very hilarious. I see her as a Auguste Clown mostly but some of her characters are not at brainless as others. Carol Burnett has a wide variety of skills including dancing and singing, which she often uses in some of her skits.

She has a very vaudevillian style that is very apparent in many of her works. Her first breakout success was on Broadway in Once Upon A Mattress, which she received a Tony nomination for in 1959. After that she made her television debut and eventually starred in The Carol Burnett show for 11 years.

Carol would begin her show with ad-lib from a question from the audience. This showed she was quick and witty on her feet. The show was a great variety show that had numerous skits and showed many different comedic sides of Carol. She always demonstrated a great sense of comedic timing both vocally and silently that is really something to be in awe of. Her sketch  of the Silent Argument is example of the nonverbal comedic timing that she is so great at.

The best part of her sketches and her characters are that they are realistic and real characters in relatively real situations. That makes it even more hilarious. Her characters are large and physical and very interesting to the see. After watching more of her skits, I cant help but admire her even more.

By Jordan Silber

Picture from: http://nypost.com/2013/11/23/carol-burnett-takes-home-the-mark-twain-prize/
Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Burnett

To Be a Clown Response

I found it really surprising to see so many different types of clowns. Call me ignorant, but I was sure that the only clowns there were had big red noses and a lot of make-up. A lot of actors and actress I really love happen to be clowns such as; Carol Burnett, Buster Keaton, and Milton Burle (sp?). When I went back and reviewed some of Carol Burnett's work, I saw clown like characteristics such as getting into ridiculous situations and using the most complicated methods to complete a simple task. It truly made me fall even further in love with that AMAZING woman.

Clown Project

The Incomparable Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett is a very well known comedic American actress who is known as one of the greatest clowns of American television. Mrs. Burnett was born in 1933 in San Antonio, Texas to Jody and Louise Creighton Burnett. She had a rough family life as her parents were alcoholics and separated several times. Because of this, Mrs. Burnett lived mostly with her grandmother. In 1940 Mrs. Burnett and her grandmother moved to Los Angeles, California and stayed in a small apartment across the hall from her parents.

Carol Burnett graduated from Hollywood High School and was accepted to UCLA from English. Within her first year, Mrs. Burnett took an acting class where she fell in love with acting. She claims, “The first time I ever forgot I as homely, was the first time I heard an audience laugh.” She then switched her major to Theatre. In her junior year, she and her boyfriend at the time, Don Saroyan, were invited to perform at a party hosted by a faculty member. There, a wealthy man from San Diego, realized their potential and loaned them $1,000 to move to New York City on the condition that the loan be paid back in five years, the money would only be used to further their careers; and if successful, they need to help other young actors to become successful. The last condition was that his identity never be revealed. Mrs. Burnett fulfilled these conditions and to this day she will not reveal her benefactor.

Mrs. Burnett moved to New York in the summer of 1954. She moved into a boarding house known as “The Rehearsal Club” . Over the next few years she would make small appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, “Omnibus”, and the “Dinah Shore Show”. Eventually, in 1959, Mrs. Burnett fulfilled a life long dream and was cast as a lead in the original broadway production of “Once Upon a Mattress”. Her career gained speed after this and she started making regular performances on the “Garry Moore Show” in November of 1959 while she was still working on “Once Upon a Mattress”.

After a few more years, Mrs. Burnett began the show she is best known for; “The Carol Burnett Show”. The first episode aired on September 11, 1967 and ran through til March 29, 1978. This is when she really showed her Character Clown. “The Carol Burnett Show” was a variety show that was mostly skits that she, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and sometimes Dick Van Dyke, performed. Carol played many different characters, but her Charwomen is the most famous. A cartoon of her as the Charwoman was created for the opening credits. She also portrayed this character in many many skits.

The Charwomen has heavy feet and tends to drag them a lot. She wears a puffy red and orange patterned hat. She has on a red blouse with dots gold flowers all over it. She has on a yellow apron that covers her front. She has on a purple plaid skirt goes only to her knees so her calves are exposed. She wears heavy brown shoes with white socks. She will clean times with a handkerchief under her open vest. In the skit, “Charwoman Goes Backstage”, she enters the dressing room of what looks like burlesque dancers. She dusts the table, wipes some ashtrays and then tries on one of the performers hula skirts. She plays around for a while but hurts herself with the pineapple bra. Her movements are very precise and polished. She also plays with a balloon at one point. You see as she gets an idea and begins to dance with drums following her beat. But the skit really takes off when she puts on a boa and begins to sing selections from “Sweet Charity”. This Charwoman character is a big dreamer with exaggerated movement. Shes not a huge buffoon, but does put herself in weird situations. Shes always cleaning in the most exotic locations and then begins messing and playing with things that she should not touch.

My favorite skit with the Charwoman was when she was a the circus. She messes with some of the items on stage but is interrupted by a sad eyed tramp clown. They interact as he tries to show her some tricks but inadvertently makes her sneeze of trip. He gives her a handful of light that he sweeps up and then it ends with a song about looking at the silver lining. This one was particularly special because two clowns interact and perform outrageous stunts.

The Charwoman her most memorable character but she did play many while airing the show. She played a wife who was having a non-verbal argument with her husband. She uses her eyes and face to portray what she wants to say. It is very clear throughout the entire skit what she is thinking and how she is feeling. There is also Stella Toddler who is a clumsy older woman who falls in such things as a red carpet and is then lifter out of it showing her underwear.

Carol Burnett is a very wonderfully talented and has given the world great entertainment. I grew up with watching Carol Burnett and she is one of my heroes. She worked hard to get where she is today and is considered one of the most respectable women in comedy.

Works Cited

• Adir, Karin. Clowns of American Television. Text. 2002
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x0Et9calE8. Charwoman at the Circus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoCIeBkkW0k. Charwoman Goes Backstage
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drFVukcUaD0. Carol Burnett – Harvey Korman – The Non-Verbal Argument
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuzWH9rJjDw. Stella at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Neil Patrick Harris!

Clown Research

            My person, is Neil Patrick Harris and his work in How I Met Your Mother. Personally I think that if he was to be considered a clown then it would be the Auguste clown because they have the most slapstick comedy and, in my opinion are the funniest. If you have ever seen How I Met Your Mother and watched was Neil Patrick Harris, as Barney Stinson does, then it has to be some of the funniest things that you have ever seen. My best example would be when he enacts The Scuba Diver.

            Now in the show he does this perfectly to where you never see it coming but instead of quoting the show ill quote the book. (Yes I have the Play Book and the Bro Code, both by Barney Stinson). Quoted from Page 136 of The Play Book:

            Success Rate   1%

            Attracts            Chicks who think they can change dude, so pretty much all of them

            Requirements   oxygen tank, mask, flippers, wet suit, regular suit(for under wet                                           one)

            Prep Time     A few years

            Bummers         Wet Suit can cause skin rash

                        The Play

            1. Tell a meddlesome female friend about The Playbook

            2. Run a play on one of her coworkers, making her so angry she steals The Playbook.

            3. Put on the scuba suit and tell your friend you're going to do one more scam called "The Scuba Driver" on the hot girl standing by the bar

            4. Your friend, lets call her Lily, goes and talks to the girl and tells her everything about The Playbook.

            5. Lily and target will demand how The Scuba Diver works. Take off your mask and give them some spiel about your deep-seated insecurities, which don't really exist because lets face it, you're awesome.

            6. Now Lily will feel bad and talk you up to the target until she agrees to go get coffee with you.

            7. And it. Is. On.

                                    Warning!

            Be sure to rip these pages out before performing The Scuba Diver!

Now lets be honest if this isn't some of the funniest, cleverest thing I don’t know what is.

Because we think that he doesn't really know what he is doing when in reality he is in control of the whole situation which is just the best kind of clown out there!

non modern clown

I have never had a favorite traditional clown type, however the greatest clown I know of would be W.C. Fields. My father admired him and W.C. Fields was a fabulous cranky old man in many Hollywood movies later on in his life that he himself wrote and stared in. His movie characters would often mumble under their breathe and move almost penguin like while pointing out sarcastic comments and traits about other people. Watching Rowan Atkinson drum routine reminded me of a W.C. Fields clown act where he is playing pool. If you watch this 5 minute clip, (particularly minute 1:55 until the end) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIUW5Rslrc,you might see, like I did, a very Rowan Atkinson type performance, just shorter.

In looking up W.C. Fields I was kind of embarrassed to find out that in his younger years he was a fabulous performer and juggler. I was blown away by Fields amazing juggling cigar box routine and that scene can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytgPGr6JhLo as well as that Fields had his own performer’s name, The Great Magonagle. When watching the juggling scene you can see a body that is in control but Fields personality acts like it is not. His feet work with the cane demonstrate that he was an extremely gifted athlete. Watch how he works the cigar boxes (that have opening lids) and you can see how just how quick his hands are moving to keep everything level. Fields learned how to juggle as a young boy living on his own and through practice and personality went to the top of Hollywood’s famous and elite. If I had to label Fields as a particular style of clown I would say he was an Aguste type clown for always causing trouble and mayhem. W.C.Fields may not be considered a modern day clown however I feel if you watch even a small sample of his routines you will see for yourself many modern day clowns used Fields as their own inspiration (and stole his bit) to find their own inner clown.

Scott

 

 

Imdb.com W.C. Fields Biography http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001211/bio#spouse

 

Have you seen my red nose?

In the chapter entitled Movement Training: Dell’Arte International, I think the authors smugness and overvalued opinion gets in the way of the message. “The Dell’Arte International Theatre was founded in 1975 to bring the physical training tradition to the United States and to …blah blah blah.” As if Chaplin, Keaton, W.C.Fields, Red Skelton, Laurel and Hardy plus hundreds of other carnival and rodeo clowns hadn’t already established a clowning tradition in America. These American traditions naturally would have been based off former countries clown traditions but I digress. I enjoyed the chapter actor reminder, that regardless of how well you think you are acting and feeling in the moment ultimately you are being watched and judged off what your body is doing. As I was reminded in the class reviews.

I was glad to be exposed to the three second wait exercise. Standing on a stage in front of an audience, after announcing what movements you are about to make, for three seconds I image would seem like 3 hours for the actor. However I could see how those three seconds would  give the actor a chance to let their inner clown come out organically instead of forcing it out by saying “ ok self, put your clown face on”. I think the waiting would also connect the actor to the audience and the audience to the actor.

Project and Readings

Paul Hunt 

           Motion is everywhere.  It is often most controlled on any sort of stage.  The more dangerous the motion in context with the stage, the tighter one’s control has to be.  Paul Hunt is a prime example of this.

            Hunt has been part of gymnastics for a very long time and has competed – and won – in many competitions.  He now coaches others in gymnastics in Utah.  His clowning is in a gymnast’s routine.

            It is amazing to watch him work either on the equipment or the floor.  The tricks he does as a clown are well controlled and never an actual slip of balance or loss of momentum.  The first time I had seen his act upon the balance beam in a YouTube video, I was flabbergasted at the precision it took for him to keep himself on the beam and keep himself within control, even in moments where he was falling.  Having been a part of ballet and gymnastics myself, I instinctually want to join him on the beam and “horse around” in a very controlled manner.

            Each move has to be precise. A miscalculation means an actual face plant with the mat.  A true slip of one’s grip means a nasty collision with the bar.  Not once can you be out of control or you lose control.  And yet, with this control, Hunt moves as if he’s not restricted by these limits.  He most likely isn’t.  The body learns how to stay balances if trained properly.  The motions become second nature if done enough times.  A well choreographed dance can seem like utter chaos to an audience when it truly isn’t.  Hunt shows that well.

            He has a floor routine that he does where he has quite a few leaps and a lot of movement about.  Quite a bit of it looks like motions thought of on the spot or half practiced.  The leap he breaks at the top of the act looks like it hurts when Hunt would have learned how to do it properly so as not to truly harm himself.  The video I watched was too fast for me to catch just how he was breaking the roll.  I’m sure it was with meat and not with bone for all his breaks.  With the seemingly incongruent motions, the entire piece – or, at least the sets of motions themselves – would have been practiced and practiced, choreographed well in advance as to give him time to perfect it so that the audience, regardless if they have been trained or not to watch for the way clowns work, can still appreciate the humor behind each motion that he does.

Personal Space

            I never realized there were so many spheres that we live in.  Makes sense, once you think about it.  Auditory, Visual, Vocal, Travelling, these I hadn’t realized existed but they make sense.  It’s a sphere of influence in a way and we’re larger than just the physical space we fill up by existing.  And along side these, there are a wide variety of motions through them, different points of being. It’s wicked.

Posture and Alignment

            Who knew there was so much to how one stands?  This is kind of ridiculous, to be honest.  It explains quite a bit, though.  Having improper posture or alignment causes kinks in the system.  It’s cool to see, though, that the section isn’t talking about just the base skeleton.  It goes into how use the buoyancy or radiance to readjust one’s form. 

Body Energizers

            This chapter really talked about buoyancy. About half way through – though it was all rather fascinating – I was beginning to wonder when we’d reach the others.  Then we got to the others.  I like the example of the cat getting ready to pounce.  It was a good analogy to use seeing as I own a cat and know how that looks, how that is.  Potency was weird.  It didn’t really resonate with me till it was listing what was learned from the experiments.  Then I was able to really see what the goal was.  The last part seemed to be just a blend of what we’ve already done.

Be a Clown

            I never realized there were so many types of clowns.  It’s cool to read all the different types and be able to put them with acts that I’ve seen. It makes it more realistic and makes me eager to try it out.