Acting Clown Actor

Shakespeare Productions 2012

2012-01-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

The Madness of King Lear - a duet Directed by Ira Seidenstein, Dramaturgy - Ira Seidenstein, Collaborative Devising
Opens at Adelaide Fringe March 8. Onward journey fringe festivals Tokyo, NYC, Avignon, Edinburgh, concludes in Sydney September 2012.

JUST CLOWNING - actor/clown duet Directed by Ira Seidenstein, Collaborative Devised.
This production includes Shakespeare bits taken off their leash.
Premiere's Brisbane - Metro Arts - January 27 & 28. Onward journey commences at Adelaide Fringe (March 10-17), then Melbourne Comedy Festival etc

Ira's Background with Shakespeare work

2011-06-20T16:45:00.001-07:00

Ira has a unique and extensive background with Shakespeare and clown.

His first act as a clown was a Shakespeare act performed in pubs.
Ira helped to establish Australia's national Bell Shakespeare Company
Hamlet BSC in repertory with 3 plays to capital cities with 16 actors. Schools show with 5 actors.
Richard III BSC
The Merchant of Venice BSC
Following the year establishing BSC, Ira opened an acting studio in Sydney with its first workshop production of the entire, uncut, Henry the Fifth with 12 women.
The Merchant of Venice - Auckland Festival - Auckland Town Hall
King Lear with 15 clowns - text unedited, performance freeform, Denmark
The Tempest (Stormen) in Swedish
Macbeth - Norbotten State Theatre, Sweden
Pericles - Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble
A Midsummer Night's Dream - USA
Macbeth - Suzuki/Frank based version, Switzerland
Voodoo Macbeth - Suzuki/Frank version, Brisbane
Hamlet Stooged - Suzuki/Frank based version, London, Wales, Chicago, Brisbane
Tadashi Suzuki saw Hamlet Stooged 2007 and gave Ira his highest personal accolades for performance and for training in Suzuki's own method SATM.
A Night With Hamlet - devised by Profs Tom Bishop, Murray Edmond University of Auckland, Directed by Ira and assisted by Dr. Rina Kim
A Girl's Guide to Hamlet - written and directed by Ira
Extensive experience teaching "Shakespeare as a Tool for Theatre"
Following Ira's studio production of Henry the Fifth, six productions and numerous courses later, Ira was asked to teach Shakespeare in Scandinavia. This led to six years work teaching, directing, writing plays and establishing a set of universal principles of theatre called "Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare". During his time with BSC amongst many accomplishments Ira notably rectified at least two known "problem scenes" in Shakespeare. These happened to be clown scenes and Ira's breakthrough was noted by numerous directors, former RSC members, and Shakespeare scholars. As John Bell stated on first seeing Ira's version of one scene in rehearsal "That is the first time in 30 years that I have ever seen that scene work". Beyond those specific scenes, Ira is presenting universal information that can lead to greater practical understanding and performance of any Shakespeare role, play or production. Further Ira illuminates that what one can then understand from Shakespeare can be applied to any play or any devised production.

Background with Shakespeare

Ira was hired in 1991 to establish Australia's national touring Bell Shakespeare Company. BSC was launched by John Bell and his benefactor in 1990 following John's lifetime encounter with Shakespeare including 5 years with the RSC. John is rightfully considered "Australia's Olivier". Ira may be the only person to act with and to direct John in the same production.

Our first conversation regarding BSC was in early 1991 when John asked me to choreograph the battle scene in Richard III. I had seen the BSC's Merchant in early 1991. A production from an excellent director Carol Woodrow. The production had numerous weaknesses and having known Carol's superb work elsewhere, one could easily surmise the issues she was facing. John then reconsidered the proposed two-weeks choreographic offer and said he would actually like me to work with the company for 3 months that would include the 9 weeks rehearsal and the launch of his real dream i.e. as possibly the world's last actor-manager of a touring Shakespeare repertory ensemble. To accomplish that, he needed an assistant such as myself. He then asked if I would come see his touring schools show that involved him and a few other actors. John and his wife, actress/director Anna Volska asked me after if I thought I could do anything with the actors bodies, implying clearly that neither John nor Anna, were satisfied with their actors movement. I replied that their bodies were fine, but their voices were more the issue. Anna asked "Well do you think you can do anything with those?". My reply "I can try". Soon John asked me if I would mind auditioning for him as an actor thus if I acted in the repertory he could keep me longer. My audition for John and Carol Woodrow was about one hour of me doing a single speech many ways as John requested on the spot. Then he asked if I had any of my own material which I then presented. He offered me a one-year contract on-the-spot! Carol ran down with tears in her eyes and gave me a hug and congratulations. John too gave me a hug and thank you and had to dash to a production appointment.

Like any actor I had done bits before coming to assist John to establish BSC. He knew my reputation as a thorough and intuitive teacher with a wide range of acting and movement skills.

To pay my way through acting school (The Dell'arte School in USA) I created a Shakespeare clown act that I performed each weekend in several pubs. I would perform during the band's break. Usually there was no announcement and I would simply start to 'take the stage' (mostly the floor) as the band started to put down their instruments. I had a formidable skill in voice, movement, and improvisation to pull the focus and entertain the pub audience. With no use of microphone. After about 20 minutes of speech and action I would bow, pass the hat and earn plenty to live for the next week.

more anon...

...More Remarkable Clowns

2011-03-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

This continues from my blog titled 'Meetings With Remarkable Clowns".
One of the world's greatest clowns who also was one of the greatest women clowns, was Lotte Goslar (1907-1997). I saw her company perform, and her solo show as well, and met her about June 1975. One of my most important teachers was from Germany. He was Peter Dittrich and he taught me sociology mainly as well as political science. He was the first person I told that I wanted to become a clown. This was immediately after I attended the Experimental Theater Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan in May 1975. Peter led me to Lotte Goslar. Coincidently she was being interviewed by a friend of Peter's who worked for the national radio in Washington D.C. So Peter arranged for he and I to stay a weekend at his friend's and the friend arranged for me to meet Lotte after the performance of her company - Lotte Goslar's Pantomime Circus. The show was quite remarkable in many ways. We would look at it today as naive art. Yet, Lotte's team were extraordinary clowns. My understanding at the time was that Lotte trained six dancers each year to learn the show, the choreography, and to learn her method of mime and clown. She was a true master.
I now know that some dancers loved the work and were able to stay for a number of years touring mainly in the USA and Europe. Lotte asked me some questions about myself and my hopes. She knew that I had applied recently to the Ringling Brothers Clown College and was awaiting notification from RBCC. Lotte said there were a lot of ways to train in clowning. She said she didn't know that RBCC was the right way for me. However, she added, none the less, Bill Ballentine - the director of RBCC was a good friend of hers and that for whatever it was worth be sure to say that we had spoken. Lotte then explained her most important advice to me "Remember, that a clown has to create their own world". With that after a few friendly remarks she wished me luck and we parted. The following week, she was performing her solo concert show in Washington D.C. It was an old classic theater, maybe the Ford Theatre? So the next weekend Peter, myself and another good friend went to Washington DC to see Lotte's solo show..... more anon

Three Shakespeare Roles in BSC

2011-02-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

In the BSC 1992 season I played many minor characters in the three plays - Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III. We were 16 actors (including John Bell and his wife Anna Volska) touring in repertory all three plays. 5 of us also later did a season touring bits of Shakespeare in a schools' program directed by John. BSC was going to do 2 schools programs that year, one as per above of bits directed by John. The other was to be A Midsummer Night's Dream in my 50-minute adaptation in avant-garde/experimental physical theatre form. It was decided for budgetary reasons to do only John's bits show.

1992 was the only year John was able to manifest one of his dreams of a full ensemble with a touring repertory of Shakespeare. He was able to do so because as intended I was his assistant. My official title was "Resident Teacher and Choreographer". I was not 'officially' an actor though I acted in the three main stage productions and the fourth show - the schools show. Nor was I officially the assistant director for Richard III. However virtually all of the mise-en-scene, actual stage direction was my own. Richard III was John's wonderful vision based on Kurosawa's Ran. We had an exceptional designer who had only just graduated from NIDA's excellent design course. Additionally, I surreptitiously coached the actors in text, character, performance, acting as I 'choreographed'. The whole year with John, Anna and the company was an incredible year that consolidated my previous experience of nearly 20 years in theatre and aided me to transform into my method "Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare".

There were several levels of 'denial' of what I actually did for BSC in 1992. First, the one article about the company written by the 1992 dramaturge Adrian Keirnander that was published in The Australian refers to me as "the Movement Coach". Adrian was an excellent dramaturge on Richard III. However, as an academic, scholar, researcher of some renown, he erred by reducing my official role as "Resident Teacher & Choreographer" to "the Movement Coach". An inaccurate slight. Not that I did not also coach movement. I did so in relation to my choreography, directing, and coaching the actors in character work and as required in text (voice, speech, performance). John and Anna are superb colleagues. Tops. Unbelievably supportive of actors. However even John when writing a Reference Letter for me to become Associate Director of LaBoite Theatre in 2002 referred to me not as past "Resident Teacher & Choreographer" etc but as "expert in comedy and asset to any company". Not bad at all, but slightly inaccurate. I did not get that job. In fact, I am not sure that my application ever made it past the Laboite person I handed it to. About that very time I came coincidently into the Suzuki Actor Training Method and the rest is history. So I am mentioning Adrian and John's inaccuracy which may well be even more so when the actors of 1992 reflect on what I actually did (or did not) do in 1992.

In our very first rehearsal, as a complete 16 member ensemble, Anna and I stood together on the floor watching John mark through his first scene with the whole troupe. He paced with the script (I believe it was actually an old book form circa 1950s) in his hand. Walking, reading, thinking. I was excited, nervous slightly. I asked Anna if this is how he usually starts. She said one never knows and that she too was somewhat nervous. For me it was her blessing not to worry. She was a pure, vital, and important colleague and an admirable veteran Shakespearean actress. A good, strong, clear, honest person. Attributes always mirrored in John's equal qualities. Anna was gracious, supportive, caring and understanding the day I arrived by bus for my audition. Unfortunately the audition had to be changed from their house where I arrived without having received the new information, to Belvoir St Theatre where in spite of Anna's assurances.... I ran to full out.

John called the ensemble "Could I have everyone on the floor please". We 15 stood around in a rough circle. "We're going to start with the Players' Entrance that will involve the whole company." John paced with his book, Hamlet. He glanced at me with a darkness inside his blue eyes. He walked about. He glanced at me again. Walked about some more and muttered something then he just turned to look at me. He stared and I understood. He was stuck. I asked gently "John would you like me to try something?". He replied "Yes if you don't mind". I began. Simply I put everyone except myself into a group entrance and tried that a few times. Then I pulled out Hamlet and Polonius. Step by step I worked up the beginning of the scene over 45 minutes non-stop. At one stage I asked the stage manager to step in where I placed myself. Finally the scene was complete all the way up to the Player King's first full speech. When I was done I said "How's that John?". "That's wonderful let's take a short break." In the season this scene, like all the others to come, stayed as I directed it. The moment we took the break the Polish actor Marion Dvorakovski congratulated me. I asked him if he would like me to coach him on his Player King. He said yes and was astounding in that role. He soon received his first review accolades in Australia for that role and thanked me when that happened. For me it was a deep honor and luxury to coach such a highly European trained actor. In the midst of that first 45 minutes, John asked me if I could juggle in the scene. I can't remember what I used but as one of the players, I entered juggling and when I arrived to Hamlet I slid into the splits while juggling. By then he had the Player King's cane and handed the end to me and pulled me in a reverse slide from the splits. I was going to have one actress standing on shoulders of a strong actor for their entrance but she was nervous about that so I had her just sit astride his shoulders. Hamlet was very finely portrayed by Chris Stollery. If John Bell is our "Lawrence Olivier" then Chris is like our "Kenneth Brannagh". Chris and Kenneth have intimate grace with the language living in their cells. Grant Bowler of Brisbane was the strong shouldered lad and Carla Aquilla was the understandably nervous actress. Grant and Carla were wonderful actors and colleagues. Chris was a fantastic colleague and stage partner he also had an exceptional education and was kind enough on two occasions to assist me with de-Americanizing two pronunciations in text.

I coached John as The Ghost (Hamlet's father) and Chris as Hamlet in the scene when they encounter one another. I hardly had to do anything. This and the player's entrance were John's only roles in this play. Though he also changed the set for one scene. One tour during Hamlet, that John directed, he mostly sat in his dressing room writing post card replies to each person who wrote to him. That is a lot of people. As The Ghost John, 'simply' circled Chris with a steadily building volume and vehemence as Chris became literally a receptive vessel and responded intuitively. John at his best as a director and actor allows each scene of Shakespeare to be a different style of acting and performance.

Hint, hint, hint - a word to the wise about how to direct and act a Shakespeare play - each scene is a different style.

One of my breakthroughs with an historically noted 'problem scene' of Shakespeare was with my interpretation of the Comic Murderer in Richard III. I acted with Chris as the other Murderer and John as Gloucester/Richard. They were great, fabulous, inspiring and supportive stage partners. more anon....

"Shakespeare's Clowns" workshop with Ira Seidenstein

2011-01-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

"Shakespeare's Clowns" is one of my new workshops launching in 2011.

"Shakespeare's Clowns" a weekend Quantum Clown workshop will assist any actor, clown, teacher or director to expand their understanding of the true and often hidden nature of Shakespeare's extensive use of clowns.

The format in this introductory weekend has six-parts:
A) Body
B) Stagecraft
C) Voice, text, grammar
D) Scene study, interaction
E) The Seidenstein Method's "Anatomy of Shakespeare"
F) Clown's Plot

There will be a short, highly effective warmup. Then several exercises for each of the six parts. The marriage of text and clown is approached as yin/yang i.e. or as is stated in Aikido as 'harmony and blending' or in kabbalah as 'tiferes' or beauty/balance.

Ira has a unique and extensive background with Shakespeare and clown.

His first act as a clown was a Shakespeare act performed in pubs.
Ira helped to establish Australia's national Bell Shakespeare Company
Hamlet BSC in repertory with 3 plays to capital cities with 16 actors. Schools show with 5 actors.
Richard III BSC
The Merchant of Venice BSC
Following the year establishing BSC, Ira opened an acting studio in Sydney with its first workshop production of the entire, uncut, Henry the Fifth with 12 women.
The Merchant of Venice - Auckland Festival - Auckland Town Hall
King Lear with 15 clowns - text unedited, performance freeform, Denmark
The Tempest (Stormen) in Swedish
Macbeth - Norbotten State Theatre, Sweden
Pericles - Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble
A Midsummer Night's Dream - USA
Macbeth - Suzuki/Frank based version, Switzerland
Voodoo Macbeth - Suzuki/Frank version, Brisbane
Hamlet Stooged - Suzuki/Frank based version, London, Wales, Chicago, Brisbane
Tadashi Suzuki saw Hamlet Stooged 2007 and gave Ira his highest personal accolades for performance and for training in Suzuki's own method SATM.
A Night With Hamlet - devised by Profs Tom Bishop, Murray Edmond University of Auckland, Directed by Ira and assisted by Dr. Rina Kim
A Girl's Guide to Hamlet - written and directed by Ira
Extensive experience teaching "Shakespeare as a Tool for Theatre"
Following Ira's studio production of Henry the Fifth, six productions and numerous courses later, Ira was asked to teach Shakespeare in Scandinavia. This led to six years work teaching, directing, writing plays and establishing a set of universal principles of theatre called "Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare". During his time with BSC amongst many accomplishments Ira notably rectified at least two known "problem scenes" in Shakespeare. These happened to be clown scenes and Ira's breakthrough was noted by numerous directors, former RSC members, and Shakespeare scholars. As John Bell stated on first seeing Ira's version of one scene in rehearsal "That is the first time in 30 years that I have ever seen that scene work". Beyond those specific scenes, Ira is presenting universal information that can lead to greater practical understanding and performance of any Shakespeare role, play or production. Further Ira illuminates that what one can then understand from Shakespeare can be applied to any play or any devised production.

This workshop is beyond the scope of most approaches to Shakespeare clowning. One also needs to recognize that historically certain roles of several main clowns were written for the specific skills and even physical attributes of specific clowns such as Will Kemp(e), RobertArmin, Richard Tarleton. Additionally the endless work of a vast array of Shakespeare scholars continues to bring light unto the texts and even the manner of playing and production in Shakespeare's time.

Background with Shakespeare
Ira was hired in 1991 to establish Australia's national touring Bell Shakespeare Company. BSC was launched by John Bell and his benefactor in 1990 following John's lifetime encounter with Shakespeare including 5 years with the RSC. John is rightfully considered "Australia's Olivier". Ira may be the only person to act with and to direct John in the same production.

Our first conversation regarding BSC was in early 1991 when John asked me to choreograph the battle scene in Richard III. I had seen the BSC's Merchant in early 1991. A production from an excellent director Carol Woodrow. The production had numerous weaknesses and having known Carol's superb work elsewhere, one could easily surmise the issues she was facing. John then reconsidered the proposed two-weeks choreographic offer and said he would actually like me to work with the company for 3 months that would include the 9 weeks rehearsal and the launch of his real dream i.e. as possibly the world's last actor-manager of a touring Shakespeare repertory ensemble. To accomplish that, he needed an assistant such as myself. He then asked if I would come see his touring schools show that involved him and a few other actors. John and his wife, actress/director Anna Volska asked me after if I thought I could do anything with the actors bodies, implying clearly that neither John nor Anna, were satisfied with their actors movement. I replied that their bodies were fine, but their voices were more the issue. Anna asked "Well do you think you can do anything with those?". My reply "I can try". Soon John asked me if I would mind auditioning for him as an actor thus if I acted in the repertory he could keep me longer. My audition for John and Carol Woodrow was about one hour of me doing a single speech many ways as John requested on the spot. Then he asked if I had any of my own material which I then presented. He offered me a one-year contract on-the-spot! Carol ran down with tears in her eyes and gave me a hug and congratulations. John too gave me a hug and thank you and had to dash to a production appointment.

Like any actor I had done bits before coming to assist John to establish BSC. He knew my reputation as a thorough and intuitive teacher with a wide range of acting and movement skills.

To pay my way through acting school (The Dell'arte School in USA) I created a Shakespeare clown act that I performed each weekend in several pubs. I would perform during the band's break. Usually there was no announcement and I would simply start to 'take the stage' (mostly the floor) as the band started to put down their instruments. I had a formidable skill in voice, movement, and improvisation to pull the focus and entertain the pub audience. With no use of microphone. After about 20 minutes of speech and action I would bow, pass the hat and earn plenty to live for the next week.

more anon...

Male-Female the yin/yang of Theatre - key principle in The Seidenstein Method

2011-01-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

After many years in Theatre I saw a pattern in my devised projects was about men & women and their relationship. It is known that every person has both feminine and masculine qualities. This is yin/yang, ida/shushumna, chesed/gevurah, Krishna/Radha all codifications in various metaphysical philosophies.

Although my artistic output on this theme is quite numerous, here, I will mention a few examples.

The male/female element may seem obvious in some plays and productions but it is the:
a) conflict b) counter balance and c)resolution or tri-elements which provide the basic underlaying structure in a play or production encountering male & female. This is most commonly seen on the surface as the basic opposition between women and men. Venus & Mars. Triad brings liveliness to the binary. Binary is stagnant. Triad brings movement and dynamic. Yin, Yang, Tao. Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet. This is also codified as the Vedic "Three Gunas". In the Noh theatre this is called Jo-Ha-Kyu. Yoshi Oida mentions this in his books and workshops and likely uses it when he directs. Zeami the original codifier of Noh Theatre established it as a principle. Yass Hashima, the Japanese/American mime/director also uses and teaches Jo-Ha-Kyu. I have created an exercise "Jo-Ha-Kyu" that establishes this principle as an embodied practice. It is one exercise in "The Four Articulations" (the introduction process to The Seidenstein Method).

Henry the Fifth done with 12 women, directed by Ira Seidenstein 1992. This project is discussed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmMHHw144ks&feature=related this is part of my show "Harlequin Dreams". 4:15 into the video I discuss the Henry the Fifth project and the dream that led to the project.

I created this project based on a dream. In the first meeting with the 12 selected actresses one of them asked if they were to do the characters as women or as men. I replied that we would have to see what came out of the process. I assisted them to be themselves as people, actresses creating a role, and characters. They developed a way of performing that was simply using their own masculine energy and did not portray the characters as 'men'. The production, performed once only as the conclusion of the workshop/project was the whole play, uncut. Only a unified simple overalls type 'costume'. There were only three props - a chair, a leek, and a hairbrush.

Prior to this I had created a number of clown theatre pieces that examined the masculine/feminine. One was "A Clown's House". This I created in 1980 and it became my touring theatre show that I played in Sweden, Finland, Germany, USA, New Zealand, and Australia in 1981 in an adapted form. At the time I used a stage name "Vincenzo". The gist, in terms of the masculine/feminine was a solo man setting up a dinner for two. The show was totally non-verbal and had no music. The set up was an elaborate structured improvisation of slapstick, mime, movement to prepare a meal and a table complete with table cloth and chairs, plates, cutlery. About 30 minutes later everything is set, for two. But Vincenzo is alone, and becomes lonely. Genuine pathos. With only my eyes and the smallest head gestures possible, soon, a woman from the audience would meet me eye to eye and either offer to come up or would be 'invited' to come up. Then the ultra slapstick would happen as Vincenzo 'assisted' her though due to his ineptness... she would have to assist him back up onstage as well as seating him. Then more ensued with the eating of the meal until eventually it was time for the woman to return to her seat and once again Vincenzo was alone. He packed up, quickly and departed the stage. Re-entering for the bow I would enter via a round-off and a few backflips.

Naturally this show could be done in reverse with a female clown and male volunteer. Additionally it could be a male clown and male volunteer or female clown and female volunteer. I always chose a woman for two reasons; a) it was a more clear cliche and b) women, in the general and admittedly cliche sense are more receptive and thus, generally speaking, are more able to blend with onstage, untrained improvisation. I would scan the first two rows of the audience for a 'volunteer' i.e. someone whose eyes showed they were open, willing, ready to help the lonely clown. In one show in Christchurch, NZ at a festival there was only one person who fit the bill. I would stick to the first two rows because it needed to be easy and quick for the 'volunteer' to get to the stage. In the Christchurch show, the woman whose eyes said 'yes' was so bizarrely angelic looking that I daren't. But, I did! She was a unique volunteer since unbeknownst to me she was not only a dancer but one whose speciality was improvisation. So we had a ball and of course were able to move, dance, and fall without any danger. She, whose name I can't recall, was from France and after "A Clown's House" asked me to dance with her in the festival's outdoor concert the following night. More about that later.

In my San Francisco performance amongst the audience members were Bill Irwin and a director of clown theatre. They spoke with me after and due to the extreme slapstick with the volunteer they were anxious to know how I prepared the volunteer who they assumed was a plant (someone prepared before a performance). They were each shocked to realize I can generate such laughter and slapstick improvising physically with a total volunteer. I did this in a way completely different from other experts in using volunteers for comedy. Remember this show was totally non-verbal. Additionally I never whispered onstage instructions to the volunteer. I did this via a hyper-receptivity to my partner's instinctual responses and subtle body language. I also accepted all of my partner's offers. But perhaps most importantly I did this by faith and what in Aikido is called 'blending'. Lastly, I timed off of my partner and gave clear actions in such a way that even more extraordinary, my partner/volunteer could time off me and get into the hang of getting laughs like a veteran comic!!

Meetings With Remarkable Clowns

2010-11-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

Introduction to Meetings With Remarkable Clowns
In 1979 I chose to leave the USA to see the European traditional one-ring circus clowns. I left for 3 weeks, but, have been gone since 1979. Amongst the clowns I met in the first instance in Europa were Alfred Pauwells and Charlie Rivels. By 1979 however I was just beginning to be discovered as a clown myself. I had already apprenticed Danny Chapman (former Boss Clown of one Ringling Circus Units when Lou Jacobs was Boss of the other). I had already started training as an actor, and had trained at Dell' arte school with its Founder Carlo and his staff. I had already created my own shows at The Eureka Theater of San Francisco (that theatre later commissioned Tony Kushner's Angels in America). And I had also completed two tours with Kit n Kaboodle an American clown troupe at that time. So in 1979 within a few weeks three offers were made to me: 1) Ringling Clown College had offered me a full-scholarship that in my case actually included pay; 2) Circus Vargas offered me a contract as a clown and to learn the classic "Frog in the Barrel" act since I was a contortionist; 3) Bill Irwin asked me to be his partner for his first NYC show. Hard to believe but I turned all three down as I felt I wanted to see and study the old masters in Europa and to see where that led me. I had just worked out a little street act, really just bits of partner acro/juggling/clown with Bernadette Sabbath a friend who was also en route to Europa.

That paragraph is condensed version of a long and interesting story of my process 1975-1979.

I had met a few remarkable clowns prior to 1979. My father was one. He was known as a 'clown' since he knew a lot about clowning, and was a prankster, and he new a lot of jokes. In the joke department he loved to beat the TV comedians to the punchlines. He also knew many clowns who he somehow met when they came to Pittsburgh. By the time I was five I was adept at pratfalls and some physical clowning. At that age my 'heroes' were The Three Stooges and Hoppalong Cassidy. When I came home from school each day from the age of 5 to 8 I watched a half hour of The Three Stooges on TV. At the age of 8 I had to begin Hebrew school after regular primary school. About the age of 10, The Three Stooges were performing live in Pittsburgh at the Holiday House night club and hotel. My father knew them somehow and arranged for us to meet them at the Holiday House reception. We arrived on schedule. My father phoned from the lobby and they came down, all three with Curly Joe as the third member. This was about 1962 or so. They had a quick hello to my father and introduced themselves to me and then 'it began'. Yes... for about five minutes The Three Stooges improvised right there for me and my father. I was stunned. Speechless. Mesmerized. Then they said goodbye and carried on as they returned to their room.

Like so many other actors and clowns of my generation we saw a huge array of the finest clowns every week on television. Many, like myself, saw every week - Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, The Three Stooges, Jackie Gleason, and Phil Silvers to mention a few. There were a large number of others plus the guests on these TV shows, plus soon in the 1960s there came the huge variety of situation comedies (Gomer Pyle, F-Troop, McHale's Navy, Dick Van Dyke Show, Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan's Island etc).

In October 1979 I started to help my friend Ole Brekke to establish his Clownskolan in Stockholm, Sweden. Ole ran it the year before for several months and he had inherited Clownskolan from another American mime/clown/juggler Michael "River" Lynch. Michael "River" moved to New Zealand with his Swedish wife and began to teach mime and juggling (his forms of clowning) all over New Zealand and had the hugest effect on the development of clown there. I met "River" in May 1980 at a clown festival after that he invited me to come to NZ since, as he put it, I could take the teaching of clown further than he. With Ole in 1979-1980 he set up a one-year course and I became his co-teacher with each of us teaching our own classes in a Lecoq based curriculum. I taught the curriculum i.e. the subjects but only used my own exercises.

Within the first or second week, I went to see an astonishing clown Clownen Manne at the Comedie Teatern at Djurgarden's Grona Lund in Stockholm. The way he dealt with the kids would still be considered remarkable by any standard. He was totally interactive although the children did not come on stage he talked with them and listened to them and clowned/timed off and with whatever they said to him. I met him afterwards simply to thank him but he was very welcoming and I soon became friends with he and his wife. In the meantime I was helping to establish a new generation(s) of Swedish clowns who had all seen Clownen Manne as children. So he certainly directly effected the clown movement in Sweden and Scandinavia for generations. Manne had trained first as a lawyer and very completely fluent in several languages. He then got involved deeply and passionately with theatre based on Grotowski and it was that work that led directly to him becoming a clown and a quite physical one at that. For many years he has performed also with his now grown children. Hopefully soon, if he hasn't already, he will also perform with his grandchildren.

In the summer of 1980 I began to perform with friends Barbara Doherty and Jodi Gilbert. Certainly, at that time, Barbara and Jodi were two of the top women clowns. Skilled dancers - Barbara was a remarkable and unique mime and Jodi was/is and extraordinarily gifted singer. We performed totally, 100%, improvised theatre as a trio and often worked with musicians who also were free to play (or not play) as they wished. We were only restricted by time i.e. the lights came onstage at the advertised time and the lights would begin to dim 5 minutes before we were to end so that we could bring the show to a conclusion. Barbara had studied dance at Salt Lake University in Utah. Coincidently she came into being a full member of the legendary The Great Salt Lake Mime Troupe. She was the last member with Jodi and they changed the name to Heroes & Regulars. When I joined we became Heroes, Regulars, & Jerks.

In the summer of 1981 Barbara and I performed in The Festival of Fools in Copenhagen. I had performed in the Festival of Fools in Cornwall in 1979. In 1981 Ole informed us that Charlie Rivels was performing in Stockholm. Our work was done so we headed there directly. I saw him perform four days in a row on the outdoor stage near the Comedie Teatern at Grona Lund. Charlie was 86 and was assisted in parts by his son who was about 62 and his daughter who was about 60. Or maybe vice versus on the ages of the son and daughter. In Sweden in that period if you mentioned you were a clown people would ask with stars in their eyes "Have you seen Clownen Manne or Charlie Rivels." In essence, for the Swedish people Manne was a real folk figure and Charlie Rivels was equivalent to Santa Claus. Well, when I saw him... he was extraordinary. There was a point in the show when Charlie had to act like a bird. Four days in a row, just at that moment, a flock of birds went by the stage. I told Manne and he said "Oh, that's been happening for ten years" i.e. each summer when Charlie performed there.

More to come...

Teaching is Learning

2010-11-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Teaching is not easy. Every teacher needs to question their self, daily. BKS Iyengar has written a fine book on teaching called "The Tree of Yoga". A teacher needs to provide an honest history of any subject that they offer. Professionally many practitioners of theatre and performance skills recognized long ago that my method was unusually potent. Thus, I have always insisted that anyone who studies with me should also be sure to have at least one other teacher besides me. Usually I am really talking about them getting at least a movement teacher since I feel that movement can be more transparent than many aspects of acting, clown or theatre. Most often my recommendation or the actor's recognition of what they should study in terms of movement comes about from our conversation. Usually I recommend one of the three general areas of; dance, yoga or martial arts.

Additionally since I recognized the strength of what and how I taught, I made sure to always have at least a movement teacher myself as well as a mentor. Some of my mentors have included Guillermo Keys-Arenas and Antoine Saleh who have since passed away. Other mentors include Harry Haythorne, MBE and Cletus Ball.

In my own journey it has been the case that my mentors, many teachers, and a much greater number of my own students have become good friends.

I have never tried nor have I ever taught anyone 'everything they knew'. A teacher needs to recognize that no matter how young (or old), or how inexperienced (or experienced) a person is when they come to learn from you, each individual brings you a gift. You are not a teacher unless you have learners. Additionally no matter who comes before you in your class or studio, each individual brings knowledge and experience (life and professional) that you do not possess.

True teaching is less about being an expert imparting knowledge than it is about facilitating a self-discovery of awakening and self-empowerment in each individual who stands in your class or studio.

In acting I have noted that most schools and teachers of acting are really trying to clone or create an actor to become a 'red rose'. Why? There are a thousand variations of roses. Additionally there are thousands of other types of flowers so why a rose at all? And why not weeds which are an important part of any ecosystem. So too for acting. There are likely a million varieties of 'actor' and many 'weeds' become stars in acting.

One of my most influential teachers, mentors, and friends was Peter Dittrich who taught me sociology and his version of political science. He said that his greatest satisfaction as a teacher was when a former student visited and that former student won an argument. Likewise in the performing arts each student ideally should exceed their teacher in some capacity. We see this in a sport such as gymnastics as each generation at each olympiad exceeds what their coaches had never even dreamed.

In acting, there are improvements in many technicals aspects of theatre. But one of the trends is what I term 'the scientology of acting' that means that even though technically the well trained actors today can 'do anything well' they seem to be empty or void of an enriched, enlivened personality. In other words it seems that as the techniques for teaching acting have developed (not necessarily improved) there is also something missing from the gestalt of many good, technically proficient, successful professional actors. There is something cold and empty on the stage. I think the musical performers have, generally speaking, the better understanding of acting, performance, physical and vocal technique than the average actor, clown, or physical performer. Really dancers exceed the ability of most so called 'physical performers'.

One has to continually question the processes and methodologies and the beliefs in the performing arts.

That questioning is as important for the teacher as for the learner.

A Life in Acting and Clown

2010-11-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

In the finale of Cirque Du Soleil's Corteo - December 2007 something shifted in my life. During our company bow in front of a full-house standing ovation, at the request of my friend and colleague Jeff I went into the center of the stage. As I rose, I went into an altered state of consciousness. Time slowed. Senses increased. I passed through a portal in my life. By the time I was 5 I wanted to be a clown in the circus. My dream as a child culminated 50 years later at this very moment during my final bow. Although I had been a clown in circus before my contract with Cirque, and this was my 104th and last contracted performance. This moment was a personal shift. just as a butterfly emerges from a cocoon, so did I pass from circus clown to my reawakened process as a teacher.

My contract with Cirque was an experimental one is several ways. One of the experiments was for me to be the first person to be the Resident Teacher of a Cirque show. There had always been a Head Coach on every show, someone who could oversee the technical acrobatic performances. My contract was officially a "Replacement Contract" for me to replace a wonderful young actor who wanted to leave the show. However, even though Cirque did not make my teaching position official, little by little many of the artistes asked me to teach them a variety of techniques related to acting and performance. Such spontaneous requests for me to teach and to direct have happened ever since I began in the theatre. It has been people other than myself who noted or called on me as a teacher.

At the request of a friend in 2008 I began to emerge again as a teacher, this time in Paris. As a result, I began to mentor a number of individuals as well as two companies since 2008. However, in May 2009 en route to one of my own workshops I had an epiphany in the Paris Metro. The new concept appeared called "The Four Articulations" and I began that day to teach a new format for understanding the deeper truth and universal principles in acting, clown, theatre and creativity. In October 2010 in the closing moments of my workshop "The Four Articulations" one participant who is 3rd generation circus artist and teacher called The Four Articulations "the bible". He meant, as I understand it, that I had indeed found something so essential and pure that in fact it is like a new beginning (genesis) for the teaching of clown, acting, and the inner dimension of theatre.