The 2016 London International Mime Festival

[post 415]

If I weren't in Costa Rica right now I'd be seriously wishing I were in London. Even if you've never been and might never go, it's good to know that the London International Mime Festival is now entering its 40th year. Since its inception in 1977, the festival has gone way beyond mime to encompass circus, clown, physical theatre, mask work, puppetry, and more. In the process, it has not only popularized a lot of deserving movement-oriented work, but has opened eyes outside the already converted. As the NY Times comments this week, "over four decades it has had a significant impact on British theater, disrupting the dominance of scripted plays —something that hasn’t quite happened the same way in the United States."

You can read the Times article here, but meanwhile here are some preview images and videos of five of this month's offerings that highlight physical comedy.

ALL GENIUS ALL IDIOT 
Svalbard (Sweden)

Svalbard bends the edges of contemporary circus and blends it with theatre, physical comedy and live music to create a truly original piece that you will remember for its surreal quality as well as its awe-inspiring skills.






EXPIRY DATE
BabaFish (Belgium)

Dominoes topple… an hourglass is overturned. Time is ever-present in this ephemeral retrospective of one man’s life, his scattered memories conveyed through acrobatics, movement, music and dance… Assisted by her father, an inventor by trade, Swedish-born artist Anna Nilsson has devised a Heath Robinson-esque set, where a ball bearing spins around weird and wonderful machinery and pendulums wave. It provides a poignant backdrop for an abstract tale about time running out, characterised by four performers and their unpredictable mix of acting, juggling, hand-balancing and singing.





MARCEL

Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris (France)
By and with Jos Houben and Marcello Magni

"An entire performance history lurks behind this ticklish two hander, the opener for the London International Mime Festival, created by Jos Houben and Marcello Magni, two of contemporary theatre’s greatest clowns. This funny, heart-breaking show celebrates the pair’s relationship stretching back to the early 1980s with Complicite and ground-breaking shows such as A Minute Too Late and More Bigger Snacks Now. It also draws on the history of clowning from commedia dell’arte to the slapstick of 19th-century music hall and early 20th-century film... the show continually reaches out to the audience, playing us with a knowing sweetness. It’s a brief hour that gives the kiss of life to the ancient art of the gag." —Lyn Gardner, The Guardian




INFINITA

Familie Floez (Germany)

In Infinita, a cast of irresistible, larger-than-life characters are seen both as warring children, and then in later life as residents of an old people’s home. The wily games of nursery one-upmanship seem hardly to change with the passage of time; survival of the craftiest is still the rule of the day. Infinita plays out in a succession of increasingly hilarious scenes, combining poignancy, astute observation and some superbly skilled slapstick.






NAUTILUS
Trygve Wakenshaw (New Zealand)

NAUTILUS is the final part of rubber-limbed Trygve’s ‘underwater trilogy’, the follow-up to delirious, sell-out physical comedies KRAKEN (LIMF’15) and SQUIDBOY. Oozing with whimsy, dripping with charm and magnificently mad, Trygve is his own animator in a cartoon world. A master of risqué innocence, he trained with Philippe Gaulier, developing a uniquely eccentric style of mime-comedy that has won him legions of fans the world over.

Pierrots de la Nuit

[post 257]

First we had this post about mimes directing traffic in Caracas, Venezuela, and now by way of my old friend Jim Jackson comes news that the mayor of Paris is employing "nocturnal artistic intervention squads" to help quiet  down rowdy late-night partiers.

Here's the article from Blouin Artinfo:

Imagine: You're out on the town in Paris, perhaps knocking back a few too many glasses of Bordeaux, when, all of a sudden, a sad-eyed clown taps you on the shoulder and starts a mime performance called "The Rite of Sleep." No, you aren't dreaming, this person is not the fruit of your (slightly) inebriated imagination, nor even a pickpocket trying to lift your wallet.

You have encountered a "Pierrot de la Nuit," or Night Mime. These "nocturnal artistic intervention squads" are officially being launched this weekend in 15 Parisian neighborhoods. It's an initiative of the Paris mayor's office, which has adopted a strategy that has already proven effective in Vienna and the Spanish cities of Tarragona and Barcelona. According to a statement from the city of Paris, the aim is to use "language, theater, mime, and dance to raise awareness among residents, bar-owners, and night-owls" about noise pollution.

But how is this going to go over with a Parisian population of inveterate complainers and partiers, who have already been mourning the death of Paris nightlife for several years now? Couldn't it backfire by activating their rebellious streak? To deal with a reluctant public, the initiative mixes street art and mediation. The 37 mimes work in trios (two performers and a mediator) and employ all their abilities (mime, acrobatics, dance) to encourage people to celebrate without shouting so that everyone can get along. In June — when the warm weather brings out even more revelers — their ranks will increase to 60 performers with 20 much-needed (we're guessing) mediators.

So are these mimes just cops dressed as jesters? It seems not. Speaking several languages, sporting colorful costumes, their goal is simply to calm everyone down so that the night can be enjoyed by all. The statement from the Paris mayor's office strikes a reassuring tone: "street performance is not perceived as aggression; on the contrary, it obliges people to listen and be respectful." As the mimes themselves put it, "silence is not repressive, but a form of sharing."

The Night Mimes have a blog and Facebook page, which will provide videos, updates, and even announcements of other nighttime performances such as concerts (a bit paradoxical, isn't it?).

To get a sense of what these performances — part quality-of-life outreach, part happenings — are like, click on the video below:

Mime Bashing

Marcel Marceau

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I suppose I could write a post about the virtues and limitations of mime training, but this isn't it. Sure, I took a smattering of classes, studying with Reid Gilbert, René Houtrides, Tom Leabhart, and Moni Yakim (and salivating over Children of Paradise), but I never really took to mime. (Translation: I sucked at it.) So instead of a treatise, just a few hopefully amusing snapshots of mime's public image over the years.

There was a time back in the day, following on the first wave of Marcel Marceau's popularity, that an aura of bold creativity was associated with mime.

And then there was the backlash.

Maybe it was all those white-faced pantomimists who thought being trapped inside an imaginary box was a profound statement on the human condition. Maybe it was all the Shields & Yarnell wannabees,  mimicking people on the street for cheap laughs. Or maybe it was all Woody Allen's fault.

In A Little Louder, Please, a 1966 comic piece for The New Yorker,  Allen pointed out the obvious: much of the audience just didn't get it:

The curtain-raiser was a little silent entertainment entitled Going to a Picnic. The mime... proceeded to spread a picnic blanket, and, instantly, my old confusion set in. He was either spreading a picnic blanket or milking a small goat. Next, he elaborately removed his shoes, except that I'm not positive they were his shoes, because he drank one of them and mailed the other to Pittsburgh. I say "Pittsburgh," but actually it is hard to mime the concept of Pittsburgh, and as I look back on it, I now think what he was miming was not Pittsburgh at all but a man driving a golf cart through a revolving door — or possibly two men dismantling a printing press.

And so on and so forth. You can read the whole selection here.

Not only were mimes confusing, they were annoying as hell. Before you knew it, mime bashing had become quite acceptable. If you couldn't make derogatory jokes about minorities, women, or gays, you could still put down mimes and — ha ha — not worry about them talking back.

This had been going on for a long time already when Bill Irwin was recruited to play an annoying mime ("worse than Hare Krishnas") in the 1991 movie, Scenes from a Mall, co-starring (guess who?) Woody Allen. (In fairness to Woody, he didn't direct this one, Paul Mazursky did.) Here's a compilation of the annoying mime scenes:




I hadn't thought much about mime lately, at least not about traditional illusion pantomime, until last month when I had two pantomime sightings. The first was Brooklyn clown and mime Jeff Seal, who decided to make a video based on all those Shit __ Say videos so popular on YouTube today. (Shit Girls Say; Shit Boyfriends Say; Shit Hipsters Say; etc.) You guessed it: Jeff did Shit Mimes Say. It turns out so did several other people, but I'm happy to report that his is by far the best:




So far mimes aren't looking great in this post, so let's go to my second pantomime sighting: Billy the Mime. Friends encouraged me to see his show at UCB (Upright Citizen's Brigade), a home for up-and-coming stand-up and sketch comics. How would a mime do there, especially one who wore the traditional costume and whiteface, and communicated through placards and silent illusions?

Quite well, actually. His show sold out and the audience laughed a lot; there was no mime bashing from that crowd. His technique is good, but what separates him from a lot of mime is his weighty and at times sensationalist subject matter. A lot of the content is sexual, and he does not hesitate to mime a variety of sexual acts in graphic detail. If anything, he can be faulted for sometimes being lewd and outrageous just for the shock value. Still, many of the pieces are quite good. First his publicity trailer:




And A Night at Monticello:




Somehow I can't quite imagine Marceau performing that one!

The London International Mime Festival

[post 216]

I live in New York and have this thing called a job, otherwise the London International Mime Festival would be a good excuse to visit The Big Smoke for nineteen days this January (as if I needed an excuse). If you're closer to London and less tied down, you'd be crazy to miss it.

The first thing you need to know about this festival, which has been held annually since 1977, is that it's no longer strictly a mime festival, but rather a heady mix of nouveau cirque, clowning, physical comedy, dance, puppetry, movement theatre and, yes, mime. In fact, they subtitle it "contemporary visual theatre." The second thing you need to know is that they bring in some very good work indeed.

Here are a few shots from their new brochure for 2012; click on the images for larger versions.

The festival runs from January 11th to January 29th, and tickets are only £15. You can view and download the brochure here and visit the full web site here.

What Will They Think of Next Department: Mimes Directing Traffic (for real)

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Associated Press, Caracas: Mimes gesture as they stand in a crosswalk in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Oct. 7, 2011. The mayor of the city's eastern district of Sucre has launched a unique program aimed to encourage civility among reckless drivers and careless pedestrians, putting 120 mimes at intersections to politely and silently scold violators. The campaign kicked off this week as mimes posted at busy intersections mocked people who jaywalked or acted brutish behind the wheel. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Click here for the full article. Thanks to Marisol Rosa-Shapiro for the link!

Jos Houben: The Art of Laughter

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It takes more than a little bravery to tell an audience outright that you are going to explain to them how comedy works and that you intend to make them laugh a lot in the process, even suggesting that they don't have much choice in the matter. But if they don't laugh, you lose on two counts. And it takes a lot of talent, training, and practice to pull it off as well as Jos Houben did Tuesday night in New York at an evening hosted by the Alliance Française as part of their Crossing the Line performance series. Yes, lots of laughs and a standing ovation.

Jos is one part vintage vaudevillian and one part Lecoq-trained movement specialist, a dynamic combination that infuses The Art of Laughter with a whole lot of fun and just as much insight. With only a chair, table, bottle, glass, hat, and napkin as props, this "master class" breaks physical comedy down into manageable chunks, building both the gags and the theory as he goes.

The bottom line for Jos is the human body — "none of you showed up here tonight without yours" — and especially the significance of our verticality, which our egos so readily equate with dignity. Some of this reminds me of a Tom Leabhart lecture-demo on the inner experience / physical manifestation work of François Delsarte, which certainly influenced modern mime, but with Jos the backbone is clearly connected to the funny bone. Many of the comic moments that arise, from the simplest trip to disastrously awkward encounters with the opposite sex, are funny because of our deviance from this vertical ideal.

Jos starts with the simplest physical comedy moves: a trip, a hand fumbling an object, a shoe flying off. How do we react to these? What if others are watching?? He builds these blunders into various combinations and then lets them occur in simple situations with the other. What happens between a man and a woman? Between two guys?

There are a few clips on YouTube, and I offer four below to give you a taste, but they fail to convey the overarching narrative that makes the whole of this presentation far greater than its (excellent) parts. If you have the opportunity to see this show live — and Jos does perform it in English and in French all over the world — do not miss it!





Preview, in French:




Again in French, two more sustained sequences. The first selection focuses on body parts, starting with the pelvis.




The second clip demonstrates creating "an accident" and building it into a sequence.




Some Links:
• Read Jos's impressive bio here.
• See the work of Jos's students from the École Jacques Lecoq, performing at the Louvre, in this previous post.
• Web site for the École Jacques Lecoq, where Jos currently teaches.
• See Jos in New York, November 9th thru December 4th, in Fragments, short pieces by Samuel Beckett, directed by Peter Brook.

Movement Training for Actors

Moni Yakim teaches a class at Juilliard
(Photo: Jessica Katz)

[post 190]

The notion that physical comedians and other movement artists might have something to teach traditional actors goes back at least a century, when such innovative directors as Jacques Copeau in France and Vsevolod Meyerhold in Russia hired accomplished clowns and variety performers as guest instructors. In the United States, this became a trend in the 60s and 70s as "experimental" theatres sought to break the confines of the fourth wall and Stanislavski method acting to forge more theatrical performance styles.

Jewel Walker and Hovey Burgess were two of the first teachers to become influential fixtures at major universities ((Carnegie-Mellon and NYU). Nowadays no respectable college acting program is without its movement specialist and — if you believe the optimistic job descriptions you see in the ad postings — the desired skill set includes mime, circus, clown, acrobatics, masks, dance, biomechanics, yoga, and stage combat, not to mention the techniques of Laban, Feldenkrais, Alexander, Grotowski, Decroux, Lecoq, and Pilates. If you can integrate it with vocal training, so much the better! All this for a position that is often low on the faculty pay scale and not even tenure-track.

Movement training for actors was not just some trendy idea that came and went. It is now widely accepted in the profession and has demonstrably expanded the range and possibilities of many a successful performer. I bring this up because I recently stumbled upon two useful articles on the subject in American Theatre magazine that are available on the web. This first offers a broad survey of the field, what the disciplines are, and what value various teachers and performers see in it.

Here are a few quotes:

"Suppose I hit a line drive over the head of the second baseman. I'm off running right away. And I'm watching the ball, and there comes the possibility I can get to second base on this hit. My body knows without looking where first base is, and I need to watch only the ball and the fielder. If I have to look down at my feet, I've lost. That's like being on stage—you have to be super aware." — Jewel Walker

"What is essential? It tends to change, depending upon the time period. I've been teaching for a long time, and students used to be a bit more out there and crazy: curious, and wildly splattering themselves on the walls. So it was a matter of focusing that wild energy. Students coming in now are better trained, in many ways, and more disciplined. Sometimes you want to tweak that wildness." — Jim Calder

"The hardest things to teach actors are that the pedestrian body embodies a kind of virtuosity, and that movement has a theatrical power that must be trusted in its own right. Actors want to act; they want to create some reason why they are standing on the stage. I take that away from an actor—I say, 'Oh, just raise your arm, just take four steps to the right, just bow your head'—it has meaning. The body is expressing things that are way beyond what you can impose on it in this moment." — Annie Parsons

"Three strong voices spoke to me—Bertolt Brecht, Jerzy Grotowski and Étienne Decroux—and I see them as a triangle of aspects of what I think constitutes full actor training. From Grotowski, it was the visceral aspect, of going beyond the socially acceptable and really finding the primal, visceral self; and from Brecht it was the whole aspect of dramaturgy and social relevance and the importance of the relationship of the artist on stage to the audience. And from Decroux, the concept of shape and form spoke to me—this idea of the actor's ability to physically manifest thought and give specificity to emotion.... The laws of physics tell us that gravity falls through us and pulls us to a perfect vertical. And life pushes us off of that sense of neutrality. If we understand that neutrality, then we understand how a character is pulled off of being perfect. Life creates our imperfections. And a character is a beautiful collection of imperfections."  — Kari Margolis

"I deal with various forms of the mask, including the red nose. One is the full-faced character mask; it is a nonverbal mask. I follow that by the neutral, universal mask—also nonverbal—and that I follow with the character half-mask, which is a verbal mask. All of that is followed by the red nose, for what I call contemporary classic clowning. [Prior to the clown work, Francesconi works with...] “...movement improvisation, which is nonverbal. It is somewhat abstract, somewhat of a combination of modern dance and eccentric behavior, which is the basis, really, of physical comedy. 'Eccentric behavior' could be something as simple as a body part going out of control. It is essential that the early work be somewhat abstract and focused on the body in space, rather than on creating story."

— Robert Francesconi

You can read the whole article here.

The second article features ten prominent performers, each explaining what approach they use for creating a more dynamic stage presence.

Again some quotes:

"I encourage Synetic actors to train in parkour movements because there is an emphasis on gaining knowledge of one's body in space as it relates to dangers (falling, colliding with objects, losing balance) and applying that knowledge to move through obstacles with ease and safety. To me, parkour is about understanding the relationship between your body and the physical world, and enjoying it. Learn to fall, roll, land, climb and interact with the physical world so that you can perform better in your run, play or dance piece. The real joy of parkour is that it changes how you look at your environment—everything becomes a potential playground!" — Ben Cunis

"Lecoq is a way, a path—not a 'technique'—that asks the actor: What do you have to say? Tragedy, commedia and bouffon all have a different approach, but the overarching theme in Lecoq is 'actor as creator.' The process helps you develop your own voice, not just as an actor but also as a theatre artist. That rounded training is lacking in the U.S. The empowerment of the actor to understand more than just the role he is playing is not often embraced here, and in New York there is a palpable hunger for physical-theatre training." — Richard Crawford

"I just played Florindo, the boastful lover in A Servant of Two Masters, at Yale Rep. I went back to basics: leading with the chest, exercising muscles in my back, realizing how to look upward when I walked around, asking where my character's power comes from. Florindo is a funny character, but not to himself. Even doing commedia, I had to find the truth in this body. I did a whole monologue walking straight downstage till I got to the apron, and then ran all the way back crying and yelling. To do that eight times a week, you have to go back to your training. That's what Moni's [Yakim] about: the freedom inside the body when doing these extreme characterizations." — Jesse Perez

And you can read that whole article here.

The articles have lots of links, plus the reader comments to each article provide some additional information and pespectives.

Complete Books: More Commedia (en français)

[post 173]

Let's give the French some credit!

They may tend to over-intellectualize, but historically they have been enthusiastic fans and loyal supporters of clowns, mime, and circus. Commedia troupes — la Comédie-Italienne — made their homes in Paris, and while the best clowns may have been from England, Italy, or Spain, often they had to come to the French capital to be fully appreciated.

The French also write (and even read!) books, so it's not surprising that some of the best works on this whole physical comedy tradition were written in French. My own Clowns book would have been significantly diminished had I not been able to read Rémy, Thétard, Strehly, Perrodil, Adrian, and many others. And if I'm a bit of a francophile, you'll have to forgive me, because the truth is I've been bought: in 1990 I had a Fulbright fellowship to France to study physical comedy, half of which was funded by the French government. I have, however, been dutifully repaying them ever since (with interest) in the form of regularly scheduled purchases of French wine, with a marked preference for the earthier Bordeaux reds.

But enough about moi. Google tells me a lot of my blog fans come from la France, and je sais for a fact that more than a few of my Anglophone readers also lisent French. The least I can do is include a few free books en français.

Holy vache, I see que this blog post se transforme progressivement into français.... ça is becoming vachement dif. Tant pis, car maintenant vous devez souffrir mon français maladroit!

Okay, eau quais.... allons-y!

Masques et Bouffons de Maurice Sand (1860)
Commençons par Masques et Bouffons de Maurice Sand, mon introduction et la traduction anglaise de laquelle j'ai déjà publié dans ce précédent post.

Tome 1:

Masques_et_Bouffons_vol01

Tome 2:

Masques Et Bouffons Vol02



Mémoires de Carlo Gozzi (1797)
Mon introduction et la traduction anglaise se trouvent aussi dans ce précédent post.

MémoirsDeGozzi



Mimes et Pierrots: Notes et Documents de Paul Hugounet  (1889)
Le dernier, mais non le moindre, c'est le plus tôt importante étude scientifique de la pantomime, celle de Paul Hugounet (né 1859), un contemporain de Charles Deburau. Après les trois premiers chapitres, ce livre se concentre sur la pantomime française du 19ème siècle.

Mimes Et Pierrots



Prochainement: des livres en français sur le Théâtre des Funambules.

Complete Book: "Masks and Marionettes" by Joseph Kennard

[post 167]

When I was writing Clowns, these were the books I consulted the most for my section on commedia dell'arte:
• Masks, Mimes & Miracles by Alardyce Nicoll
• The World of Harlequin by Alardyce Nicoll
• The Italian Comedy by Pierre Duchartre
• The History of the Harlequinade by Maurice Sand
• Scenarios of the Commedia Dell'Arte by Flaminio Scala
• The Commedia Dell'Arte by Giacomo Oreglia

I did not read Masks and Marionettes by Joseph Kennard, nor have I since then, but browsing through it now it seems to be a reasonable overview of the subject, and one that touches on the closely related puppet theatre of the time. And since the above-mentioned books are not available for free and this one is, I though it worth including here.

Masks and Marionettes

Gamarjobat — Silliness Supreme

[post 150]

You've probably already seen most of the mime-y shtick these guys do, but their high energy and inspired silliness make it fresh and funny.  Thanks to Jeff Seal for the link.

Live from Paris: In Search of Mamako

[post 105]

"Live from Paris" last April, that is, where I was already undercover on the Linder and Etaix capers when I got a coded message from one Michael Evans, an operative unknown to me but apparently a go-between for a character from the 70s who at that time went by the unassuming name of Lou Campbell.  I was in Paris, I had nothing better to do (hah!), and before I could say fromage I'd been given the assignment to track down legendary Japanese pantomimist Mamako Yoneyama, rumored to be hiding out in that City of Light Mimes.  Evans (if that's his real name) had first met Yoneyama — code name Mamako— at the 1974 International Mime Festival at Viterbo College in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, organized by yet another "Lou Campbell."  Or was he in fact the same person??  Evans' rambling confession about that festival — an event whose foreign ideas about movement theatre forever corrupted the minds of a whole generation of impressionable Americans in tights —has finally been released thanks to the Freedom of Information Act,  and now the general public can view it here, including incriminating sketches and notes such as these:

I had never seen this Mamako character perform. I knew she had a glowing reputation, but biographical data was suspiciously sketchy. The only background info on the perp was from a book called Mime and Pantomime in the 20th Century, but for reasons unknown not published until 2008:

Born in 1935, Mamako began dancing at a very early age. Her father, a schoolteacher, was a dancer by choice, performing for a local ballet company. Mamako naturally being exposed to her father’s talent, became involved in dance. By the time she was a teenager, Mamako was the acclaimed best dancer in school. She attended Tokyo University where she studied physical education. In addition, she studied modern dance under the aegis of Egichi-Miya, the famous Japanese choreographer/dancer. She rose quickly to stardom in Japan.


She attended the debut performance of Marcel Marceau in Tokyo and immediately made up her mind to study with him in Paris. Once she acquired the foundation of style mime technique, she returned to become a curiosity in her own culture.

Because pantomime was so new in Japan, it offended her to read that her mime was regarded as "twisted dance." She came to the United States and did well in Hollywood, but she was lonely there. Dr. Lou Campbell first met Mamako at San Francisco State University in a Stage Movement Master Class that he developed through the American Educational Theatre Association pre-convention sessions in 1972. She performed at the First International Mime Institute and Festival in 1974 and at subsequent other mime festivals around the U.S. where she received great accolades. After a long stay in Japan, she decided to move to Paris.  Only recently did she decide to return to her home country.

The form of mime for which Mamako is most noted is called Zen Meditation Mime. She claims that “It is the same as that which a Buddhist Monk experiences while meditating on a particular environment.”  It is not literal pantomime but a collection of impressions derived from an environment.

That Campbell character again! Just to be thorough, I checked to see who the purported author of this book might be, and it was none other than... Lou Campbell!  Campbell writing about Campbell. Coincidence? I think not. This plot was thickening as surely as a bouillabaisse going into its third hour on the stovetop.  But where to start?  Like Dick Tracy before me, I turned to my wristwatch for an internet search, my eagle eye uncovering an obscure reference to Mamako on a blog by Tokyo writer Yuri Kageyama.

Moi to Yuri:  Mamako? Still alive? Living where?

My wristwatch soon beeped with a reply, which it dutifully translated from the Japanese as "I've read about her performance as recent as a couple of years ago. They were in Japan, but I only learned about them on the Web afterward and so I couldn't go check it out. Her death would make news here for sure. And I have not seen any such reports."

She was alive but apparently living in Japan. Me, I was stuck in Paris, volcanic ash shutting down every airport west of Kiev.  My pockets stuffed with cash, just a small portion of the enormous profits from this blog, and yet no way to hop a quick flight to Tokyo.  Curse you, Iceland! One door had opened, but another had been slammed right in my kisser.

A little secret: a good detective makes his own luck... and his own contacts.  Checking my Rolodex for Franco-Japanese go-betweens, my finger landed on the tattered card of  one Bernard Collins (code name Compagnie BP Zoom), an American in Paris frequently back and forth to Japan, with "clowning" as his cover for other activities I have sworn not to disclose.  Would he fess up to having seen Mamako?

Paris–Tokyo–Paris. Hmm... might they not be toiling for the same cartel?  Turns out Collins' "agent" had in fact introduced him to our suspect on a previous occasion. Bingo! Not only was she alive and well, but said "agent" knew exactly how to reach her.  End of search! All that remained was the judicious application of a certain amount of pressure — long distance yet oddly effective — for our new agent friend to turn over the necessary contact info, now safely in the hands of the entity or conglomerate known as Lou Campbell.

My reward?  I'm not talking, but you can be sure it won't appear on my 2010 IRS return.

Tricicle — Live From Barcelona! #3

[post 083]

If you spend your days in the United States, chances are you've never heard of the Catalonian physical comedy trio, Tricicle. In Europe, however, they're a well-known brand name, almost a small industry, having performed extensively in major theatres and festivals for over thirty years, as well as on tv and in movies, and even as part of the opening ceremonies for the 1992 Olympics here in Barcelona. Founded by Joan Gracia, Paco Mir and Carles Sans in 1979, they expanded their international reach in 1988 by adding a second 3-man company (photo, right), known as Tricicle-2 or Clownic, which performs pieces from the by-now large Tricicle sketch repertory, and which is who I saw last night.

Here they are (almost) winning racewalking gold at the Olympics. Very funny.



Their theatre work is minimally verbal and can easily be followed by an audience not speaking the language, so I'm sure it travels well. It would be accurate to describe what they do as physical comedy, but it comes more from the world of mime than that of the knockabout comedian and has the feel of sketch comedy without the words. This explanation from their website gets to the point pretty well:

Tricicle’s style is the fruit of an era in which visual humor was rising in popularity. Performers such as Comediants, Jango Edwards, and Albert Vidal were an undeniable point of reference for those wishing to devote their lives to the world of theatre and this was why Joan, Paco and Carles (each one separately) decided to give up their free mornings and enroll at Barcelona’s Institute of Drama with the aim of steeping themselves in all the various types of drama techniques. But how they really learned the bases of their unique style was by memorizing the Lubitsch, Wilder and Keaton films they would see at Barcelona’s Filmoteca and, especially, by dissecting and analysing the performances of humorists appearing in Barcelona, which was then a city thirsty for refreshing entertainment.

Gags are the basis of the company’s theatrical technique. All Tricicle shows are replete with gags and have a seemingly incredible average of one gag per ten seconds. The company’s shows are never considered as finished products and are constantly open to the inclusion of new gags as each production progresses, although they do have their limits. Tricicle draws the line at humor based on bad taste.

From the outset, Tricicle avoided conventional mime techniques and opted for a “realistic” acting style based on day-to-day gesture; Action Theatre, the company calls it, thus comparing it to action cinema in which the characters, who often have very little to say to each other, simply spring into “action.” The company’s style is mainly characterized by its dynamic nature, short scenes, frequent changes of character, natural onomatopoeia (with a very occasional spoken word), the dramatic use of stage props and constant surprises. Their concept is that the audience should leave the theatre without even realizing they have attended a “silent” show. There is nothing worse than hearing someone utter “Why are they not speaking?” during a performance.

The performance I saw was energetic, finely tuned, and very well received by the audience. I found much of it inventive and quite funny — for example, the "if men were pregnant" piece, photo above — but there were also sections and entire pieces where it was all a bit too light and safe, too much like television in its choice of humorous topics and how far it would go with them. I started to want more substance for my 18 euros. And despite the name Clownic and a performance style that could loosely be termed clownesque, do not go expecting to see strong clown characters. Their focus is more on the everyday, on naturalistic behavior, albeit exaggerated, and less on the psychology of memorable individuals.

Their last piece, The Waiting Room, was their strongest in terms of sustained gags and creativity, and you payasos out there will appreciate that it ends with a variation on the classic clown entrée, Dead or Alive. Today I found it on YouTube, though performed by the main company rather than Clownic. See for yourself...






There are a lot more videos on YouTube, but definitely check them out live if they ever come to a theatre near you. Click here for their touring schedule.

Method in Mime by R.G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe

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In writing about San Francisco on my last post, I mentioned the influence the San Francisco Mime Troupe had on the popular-arts performance scene there. If you've seen their work, you've probably wondered why they label themselves a mime troupe. The answer lies in their early years under the direction of their founder, R.G. Davis (photo, right). This manifesto on mime and pantomime, written by Davis in 1962, shows the troupe's roots and still raises some interesting questions today.

What I liked about this when I first read it sometime back in the 70s were the clear distinctions Davis was able to make between a broad commedia style of physical performance and the more precious tradition of the white-faced pantomime artist. Now that I'm older and wiser (oh yeah, sez who?), I'm a bit more wary of dialectic reasoning where things are either this or that with no wiggle room. People who think like that can be very difficult to deal with! Still, I think it's a useful argument, a provocative read, at least if seasoned with a grain or two of salt. And although Davis was eventually replaced by a collective leadership and the troupe's performance style became less "mime-y," their work has in fact retained an essential commedia feel and flavor.

Anyway, it's only three pages, well worth your time, just be sure to click on "Fullscreen."

Method in Mime

Complete Book: Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, edited by Charles Dickens

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Today I introduce yet another new feature to this blog, a complete book in the form of a pdf file suitable for reading online, downloading, or printing. Because of legal issues, most if not all books presented here will be from the pre-copyright era, roughly a century or more ago, and therefore of a historical nature.

We start off with a classic, the Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, edited by none other than Charles Dickens (pseudonym Boz). Grimaldi (1779–1837) was perhaps the most celebrated clown who ever lived, the clown credited with elevating the craft to an art form, the man from whom latter-day clowns derived the nickname "joey." If you want a quick introduction to Grimaldi, go to post 002 on this blog and take a look at chapter five (pp.8–14) from my book Clowns.

How these memoirs apparently came about is its own story, here summed up by our good friend Dr. Wikipedia:

The book's accuracy is not entirely clear, since it went through a number of revisions, not all with Grimaldi's input. Grimaldi's original manuscript, which he mostly dictated, was about 400 pages; he completed it in December 1836. The original "excessively voluminous" version was apparently not good enough for publication, and in early 1837 he signed a contract with a collaborator, the obscure Grub Street writer Thomas Egerton Wilks, to "rewrite, revise, and correct" the manuscript. However, two months after signing the contract, Grimaldi died, and Wilks finished the job on his own, not only cutting and condensing the original but introducing extra material based on his conversations with Grimaldi. Wilks made no indication which parts of his production were actually written by Grimaldi and which parts were original to Wilks. He also chose to change Grimaldi's first-person narration to the third person.

In September 1837, Wilks offered the Memoirs to Richard Bentley, publisher of the magazine Bentley's Miscellany. Bentley bought it, after securing the copyright from Grimaldi's estate, but he thought it was still too long and also badly edited, so he asked one of his favorite young writers, the novelist Charles Dickens, then twenty-five years old, to re-edit and re-write it. At first Dickens was not inclined to take the job, and he wrote to Bentley in October 1837:

"I have thought the matter over, and looked it over, too. It is very badly done, and is so redolent of twaddle that I fear I cannot take it up on any conditions to which you would be disposed to accede. I should require to be assured three hundred pounds in the first instance without any reference to the sale -- and as I should be bound to stipulate in addition that the book should not be published in numbers I think it would scarcely serve your purpose."

However, Bentley agreed to Dickens' terms (a guarantee of three hundred pounds and an agreement to publish the book all at once, and not in monthly numbers.) Dickens signed a contract in November 1837, and completed the job in January 1838, mostly by dictation. Dickens seems never to have seen Grimaldi's original manuscript (which remained in the hands of the executor), but only worked from Wilks' version, which he heavily edited and re-wrote. Bentley published it in two octavo volumes in February 1838.

How faithful this twice-edited, twice-rewritten version is to the original cannot now be determined, since the original manuscript was sold at an estate sale in 1874 and has never been seen since.

Tech Note: The scan of this book is by Google, which you may have heard is ruffling a lot of feathers by trying to digitize every book they can get their hands on, copyright be damned. As far as I can tell, what they do is scan the book as an image, that's all, nothing but a bunch of dumb pixels that don't even know they're banding together to form language. Google makes no attempt to perform OCR (optical character recognition), which would translate the image of text into individual letters and words a computer can recognize separate from one another, thus allowing for searching topics, copying & pasting, editing, etc. The reason they don't do this is that OCR software is not 100% accurate, especially when applied to old books, so for it to come out right someone would have to spend hours.... and hours... and hours of proofreading the entire book. Unfortunately, an old scanned book is harder on the eyes than one converted to crisp, clear text but — you know what they say — you get what you pay for.

GrimaldiMemoirs

The Fonz Does English Pantomime

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The Christmas pantomime is what remains of the old harlequinade, the cauldron for physical comedy in 19th-century England.

Click here to read the whole NY Times article.

Click here to read about the harlequinade in my book Clowns.

Guest Post: Jonathan Lyons on San Francisco's Flying Actor Studio

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by Jonathan Lyons

[Jonathan Lyons is an animator at Imagemovers Digital, and you can see his latest work in Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey, in theatres everywhere right now. You can read his other guest posts here and here.]



When I was an adolescent living in New England, I was told that Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus ran a clown college in Florida. To me, that sounded like an excellent institution of higher education. Just about my speed.

Alas, one thing leads to another and the decades go by. I never made it to Clown College. I think perhaps it’s a good thing, as I am somewhat injury prone. I probably wouldn’t have lasted many years in the profession. Still, my love of physical comedy, and my curiosity about the art remains undiminished. I practice it in a virtual form, animation. Recently however, I had a chance to sample the real-world training of a physical actor.


I live in Marin County, California, and this past summer a new school opened up in San Fransisco, just across the Golden Gate Bridge. The Flying Actor Studio, operated by James Donlon and Leonard Pitt. They offer “physical theater training with world-class master teachers offering: movement, mime, mask, clown, circus arts, improvisation, voice, new performance.” They have an impressive list of guest instructors, including Geoff Hoyle, John Gilkey, Bill Irwin, Judy Finelli, and Suzanne Santos.

To kick off the opening of the school, they held a special performance with Donlon, Pitt, and Cirque du Soleil alumni, John Gilkey. The show was called “The Zany and the Surreal.” It featured rotating solo performances from the three actors. Donlon delivered some of his deeply felt mime, Pitt introduced some mask techniques and told an entertaining Jewish tale. John Gilkey’s pieces included his signature coat rack juggling routine, which I enjoyed watching in the Cirque du Soleil show Quidam.

The Flying Actor Studio is a full-service training facility offering everything from one-day workshops to a full-time, 28-week conservatory program. They also arrange special guest shows and workshops. This October they welcomed the International Czech Theater Festival, and held a clown workshop with Steve Capko. Among the workshops and classes they had the ideal opportunity for a working family man such as myself. “Meet the Flying Actor Studio Drop In Class”. Held on a Sunday, 10 am to 4pm, it is described like this:

“A survey of the Flying Actor Studio methods including improvisation, imagination, time, movement, mask, and mime. This class is offered on a sliding scale to make our classes accessible.”

I was happy to pay the high end of the $25 to $40 suggested price. It was more than reasonable for the experience. I and a handful of other participants warmed up with stretches in the bright loft space. Some of them were actors, at least one other was just curious like myself. James Donlon ran the morning half of the program. Among Mr. Donlon’s many teaching credits, was the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Clown College. Finally, I would have my day! We did a variety of basic exercises in movement. He introduced the idea of “neutrality,” which I found intriguing. Neutrality in this case being a way of moving (or being still) that would offer no clues about the person. You wouldn’t be able to determine age, sex, state of mind, state of health, anything. Half of us would wear black hoods, to hide the face, while walking around the room in whatever fashion felt neutral to us, while the others would discuss what they saw. We did the same thing with sitting in a neutral position. While I would have thought that the class would be all about creating character, this exercise in removing character was just as informative. After that we practiced a variety of mime exercises, and by this time, I was beginning to sweat. It was a workout, and I would be sore the next day.

After a lunch break, Leonard Pitt took over the class. During Mr. Pitt’s 40 years of experience he has studied with Etienne Decroux, written several books, and been a movement consultant on major motion pictures. We started with an exercise between pairs of people locking eyes and moving back and forth as though on a rail. Building on that we expanded it to random group movement, quickly switching to pairs. The exercise involved focused attention, and physically grabbing attention from others by just turning towards them. I can see where it would be a useful exercise for the stage movement. Following that, Mr. Pitt introduced us to the basics of using masks. It was interesting to learn that mask work is not so much about movement, but about posture and posing, and also eye direction. This is useful stuff for an animator.

Thanks to James and Leonard for setting up such an accessible, educational and enjoyable program. Good luck to them and their venture.

Click here for more information about the Flying Actor Studio.