Kaivalya Plays presents

Improv & Clowning
IMPROV LEVEL: No previous knowledge of improv necessary

As improvisers we are guided to put all our focus on our co-actors. We, often, ignore tha audience and play out our scene in an imaginary world disconnected from their involvement. Clowns, however, constantly engage and share with their audiences. Clowns communicate with their entire bodies and tell stories that revel in failure.

Improv & Clown draws upon *Commedia Dell’arte* and the work of clowning masters including Jacques Lecoq and Charlie Chaplin to show a fresh direction for improv work. There are many intersections in improv and clowning, especially regarding how we react to failure, endowing space, exploring emotion and using comedy as a primary genre to tell spontaneous stories. Clowning has many schools and approaches, but where it often deceives us is in its simplicity. Clowns can make a child laugh, but that doesn’t mean the clown is merely playing to a fool, but rather using the very highest level of their intelligence to perceive, react and create. Clowns are masters of creating novel situations and then heightening them by dwelling on what can go wrong, and how what goes wrong reveals their own foibles and inabilities, all while entertaining the viewer. To be a clown is to gain a deep understanding of yourself and to share it with the world in a comfortable and self-empowering manner.

Clowning is a lifelong practice but, in this 2 hour session, the facilitator will introduce you to a little history, share games and exercises and guide you to get out of your head and into the room so you can perform at a higher level than you might have done before.

After this course you will be able to:

Bring the audience into your scene work

Raise the stakes of a situation by making it implode on itself

Use the resistance you encounter from objects or others as fuel for a scene

Feel comfortable, safe and full of ideas as a character in a scene

Duration: 2 hours

Requirements:

The class is open to anyone. The facilitator will ask you to stand and move for several exercises but these exercises will be adapted for anyone with different needs. Dress comfortably and keep a bottle of water within reach.