Clown Fundamentals for Improv - Visiting teacher

NB: Limited to 14 spots. Please pay upfront to reserve your spot.

Clown Fundamentals for Improv
Through games, exercises, improv and lots of fun, students will re-connect with their inner clown and learn how to express themselves more freely. While all performers aim to perform FOR an audience, clowns play WITH them. By taking risks and celebrating both success and failure, clowns hope to find exactly what sparks joy in their audience. A challenging and incredibly fulfilling theatrical form that will inspire students to discover what makes them uniquely funny and to share it boldly.

Key learning points:

1. Audience Sensitivity: without the audience’s presence the show ceases to exist, knowing how to listen to them is super important.
2. Taking risks: we want to make people laugh, really laugh. To do so, we’ll often have to step outside of our own comfort zone to surprise and engage them.
3. Embracing failure: by befriending ‘the flop’ we can turn mistakes into success and keep our audiences hooked no matter what happens!
4. Breaking the rules: what if something genuinely spontaneous and fun happens outside of the rule book? Get to grips with the anarchy.
5. What makes you funny: find your unique voice and learn how to activate it!
6. Stage confidence and presence: audiences will feel not just safe but also excited for what you might bring them.

Who is this for?
Whether you are a seasoned comedian or just starting out with improv, this workshop is for you! No experience in clown, improv or comedy is required to participate.

REQUEST: Please arrive a little earlier than the start time so we can start promptly. Make full use of your time with our visitor!!

Facilitator bio
Your facilitator is a Swedish born, UK-hailing actor, clown, improviser and facilitator. Having performed professionally on stage and screen since 2018 his most recent projects include an original piece of solo work and a largely improvised double act at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: 'Pull My Goldfinger', a James Bond themed clown show ('sharp, ridiculous, and unexpectedly generous hour of theatre' ***** EdFringeReview) and ‘The Supermalts’ (‘Brilliant interactive clown comedy’ audience review).

Introduced to improv and clown during MA Acting at ArtsEd (London), he quickly fell in love with the practices of Keith Johnstone and Gaulier. He pursued further training at Hoopla, The Free Association and Bad Dog Theatre (Toronto) as well as with Aitor Basauri (SpyMonkey), Henry Maynard (Flabbergast Theatre), Nathaniel Justiniano (Naked Empire Bouffon Company), Isaac Kessler and Ken Hall (2-Man-No-Show) and many more at Sweet Action Theatre (Toronto).

Thanks,
Christiane
p.s. Location map for Studio Gokko: Use this Google location if you have any problems: https://goo.gl/maps/w4f6GgXbYG5u2YvW7

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Language: You should be a competent English speaker, who is capable of easy and free communication. We have many students from all over the world, and non-native speakers are always welcome!

Diversity Policy

We strive to create a welcoming atmosphere for everyone, regardless of minority status. Continued participation is at the discretion of the instructors. So be positive and nice to your fellow improvisors! Also, we're all adults here, but hitting on people isn't cool in a workshop. Just saying.