Fixed Point (.) - The fixed point functions as a full stop, a brief stop in movement where the actors look at each other after a comedic moment, for example if two people were sitting in a room that is meant to be completely silent and one of their phones goes off and it's a really cringe worthy ringtone and they both stop what they're doing and look at each other like 'whaaaaat'.
Drop (...) - The comic drop functions as an ellipsis, this is when the character in the sketch will come completely out of character for a few seconds stare into the audience and then suddenly go back into character and continue with what they were doing. For example, if one character was talking to another character and they started rambling on and on about a boring topic and the character listening, after a few seconds gazes out to the audience as if to ask the audience for help.
Comic Stop (!) - The Comic Stop functions as an exclamation mark and it is a all over body flinch reaction to a specific moment in the scene/sketch. For example if a character was in a shopping centre, carrying lots of bags whilst lots of people are all crazily rushing round shopping and the characters phone ring, they first of all flinch when they acknowledge their phone ringing, then again as a reaction when they see who is ringing them and again when they find out why they are ringing them. This gives a comedic effect as the audience are not expecting it and it's very exaggerated.
Suspension (,) - The function of Suspension is a comma and this is well, to create suspension. An example of suspension is one character telling another character a really interesting story and just as they're about to tell the huge exciting outcome/ending they are distracted by something and take ages to continue the story.
Clown: After we had done several exercises learning about the four comic timings we then learnt about the Clown, this is a character who is very clumsy, stupid version of you so is always getting in sticky situations but the Clown will always want to help others and will feel terrible if his stupidness effects others, an example of this is the poo on shoe sketch. In this sketch the Clown will meet the 'Straight Man' somewhere and the clown will be overly happy and generally making a 'clown' of themselves and the Straight Man is trying his hardest to ignore this and stay sensible, however the clown doesn't realize he has feces on his shoe until he accidently wipes it on the Straight Man and then when realises tries his hardest to help but instead makes everything worse. We were put into twos to replicate this sketch. We decided that the Straight man should be at the cinema and the Clown walks in late being noisy and when he sits down he keeps saying things to the straight man and talking over the movie and getting so excited about his 'favourite film' that he accidently knocks the SM's popcorn out of his hands, the clown is very sorry and picks the floor popcorn up and gives it back to the SM. Then the Clown accidently wipes the poo onto the SM's trousers and the Clown tries his hardest to get rid of it but ends up smudging it and getting it everywhere.
Straightman: Like i talked about in the previous paragraph this character is serious and doesn't find any of the Clowns antics funny and tries to ignore him and get on with his day to day life.
Information about Philippe Gaulier:
Philippe Gaulier was born in Paris, 4 March 1943 and is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a prestigious French clown school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lecoq in the mid-1960s and was an instructor at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in the late 1970s. As well as performing as a clown, he is also a playwright and director. He has published The Tormentor (Le Gégèneur), a book discussing his thoughts on the theatre and containing exercises designed to develop an actor's skill.
No comments:
Post a Comment