There are so many great Clown Schools, Which one should I pick ?
For most people, it is matter of geography. Traveling half way around the
world to attend clown school can be a tad expensive, time consuming, and just plain
hard to do.
Another factor to consider is time. Some Clown Schools
have classes that take months to complete. Others are a single day and other
can run one night a week for a few weeks. The Clown Schools listed on this
web site tend to run longer courses, while the shorter course are listed on
our sister site ClownEvents.com.
Another factor is the clown
school's focus. Some focus on clowning in theater, others focus on
clowning in circuses, and others have oterh things they
focus on. Spend some time looking at the clown school's focus
before committing your time or money on the longer courses. Try a day long
course first before committing to a year long course.
Physical theatre - is used to describe any mode of performance that pursues storytelling or drama through primarily and secondarily physical or mental means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre", which has led to a lot of confusion as to what the definition of physical theatre actually is.
The term "physical theatre" has been applied to performances consisting mainly of:
Physical theatre may utilize pre-text, but the primary focus is on the physical work of the actors, expressed through the use of their bodies. It is a highly visual form of theatre. The action in physical theatre may have a psychological base, or symbolic resonance, or point to an emotional centre, or have a clear storyline miming, or any combination of the above, and it may grow out of codified forms, improvisational work, or invented gestural language, among other means of creation. However, the means of expression are always primarily physical rather than textual.
Commedia dell'arte(short for "Commedia dell'arte dell'improvvisazione" — "comedy of the art of improvisation") is a professional form of theatre that began in Italy in the mid-15th century, and was characterized by masked "types", the advent of the actress, and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios.
It continued its popularity in France during the 17th century, and evolved into various configurations across Europe. For example, pantomime which flourished in the 18th century, owes its genesis to the character types of the commedia, particularly Harlequin. The Punch and Judy puppet shows, popular to this day in England, owe their basis to the Pulcinella mask that emerged in Neapolitan versions of the form. In Italy, commedia masks and plots found their way into the opera buffa, and the plots of Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini. Italian theatre historians, such as Roberto Tessari and Ferdinando Taviani, have claimed that commedia developed as a response to the political and economic crisis of the cinquecento, and, as a consequence, became the first entirely professional form of theatre and is commonly refered to as The origins of comedy.
For example, pantomime which flourished in the 18th century, owes its genesis to the character types of the commedia, particularly Harlequin. The Punch and Judy puppet shows, popular to this day in England, owe their basis to the Pulcinella mask that emerged in Neapolitan versions of the form. In Italy, commedia masks and plots found their way into the opera buffa, and the plots of Rossini,Verdi and Puccini. Italian theatre historians, such as Roberto Tessari and Ferdinando Taviani, have claimed that commedia developed as a response to the political and economic crisis of the cinquecento, and, as a consequence, became the first entirely professional form of theatre and is commonly refered to as The origins of comedy.
Clown Book