The bouffon live at the periphery of society, true messengers for our times, never asking for the love of the audience, only to survive and to flash a mirror before us. The darker side of our psyche, a true side, is developed through physical manipulations and grotesque forms.
Through this, the psychology of the outcast is explored
Joey & Auguste is the continued exploration and expansion of the six masks created in Clown through Mask, allowing you to discover the extreme nature of the clown.
In this course, you will be working with other clowns on stage – developing relationships based on the archetypes of the ultimate victim, the ultimate manipulator, and the composites that lie in between these two extremes.
We will also begin to work with voice and text. (Pre-requisite: Clown through Mask)
Based on the pioneering work of Richard Pochinko, this process synthesizes Native American and European clowning traditions to guide you in the discovery of clown. Participants are taken on a journey exploring colour, innocence and experience.
Six clay masks are made which create a personal mythology. As they are worn and explored various characters emerge which form and define your clown.
We need to build a clown who speaks to today, that is not just a collection of gags, but an archetype that reveals the essence of the performer.
This is clown that gives us a larger sense of the divine in each of us, that celebrates our humanness, our animalness, and the times that we can touch each other in a moment of laughter.
The Theatre Resource Centre was established in 1975 with Richard Pochinko as the Artistic Director. Under the tutelage of his North American native teacher John Smith, Richard had begun to find a new way of working with the sacred figure of clown in theatre. At the TRC, Richard continued in this direction, developing a unique approach to clown that synthesized native American and European clown traditions. The TRC became renowned as an organization whose focus was the development of clown using Pochinko’s approach.
In Sue Morrison, Richard saw someone who could continue to teach and develop the process of Clown through Mask and he took her on as his protégé. Richard passed away in 1989, and Sue became the Artistic Director of the TRC in 1993. Since then, she has continued the TRC’s vision, developing and teaching clown and bouffon and integrating clown into theatre where it can take a relevant place on today’s stage.