At the beginning of my 3-year AHRC-funded Creative Fellowship investigating contemporary clown training and practice I asked simple quesitons such as: “What is a clown in the 21st century?” “How can we train them?” “What is the relationship between clown and actor training?”
Since then we have created a focus for international clown research at Central, attracting students, practitioners, teachers, academics and audiences from around the world.
Now at the end of the project I am asking, “Does it (clown/actor training) work?”
Coining the phrase “21st Century Clown” might sound like a cheap marketing gimmick, but it neatly expresses two facts: that clown has its own history, and that we have our own historical moment. In other words, we can learn from the past but the present is unique. It’s also a way of setting myself apart from the suffocating effects of post-Lecoq orthodoxy which, unbelievably 50 years on, is still leading UK drama schools up the garden path.
Conceived, Written and Performed by Jon Davison
Jon Davison has over 25 years experience as a clown performer, director, teacher and researcher; co-founder of the ground-breaking clown-theatre company Companyia d’Idiotes in Barcelona, and co-director of studies at the Escola de Clown de Barcelona.
Jon Davison
Performances:
(60 mins)
Wednesday 6 October, 8pm
Thursday 7 October, 6pm
Friday 8 October, 8pm
in Performance 2
Lecture/Demonstration
(45 mins)
Friday 8 October, 7pm
in Performance 2
Workshop
(120 mins)
Saturday 9 October, 1 – 3pm
in Rehearsal Room 6
Spontaneous/Disciplined
Original/Familiar
Subtle/Grotesque
Anarchic/Formulaic
Idiots/Artists
At the beginning of my 3-year AHRC-funded Creative Fellowship investigating contemporary clown training and practice I asked simple quesitons such as: “What is a clown in the 21st century?” “How can we train them?” “What is the relationship between clown and actor training?”
Since then we have created a focus for international clown research at Central, attracting students, practitioners, teachers, academics and audiences from around the world.
Now at the end of the project I am asking, “Does it (clown/actor training) work?”
Coining the phrase “21st Century Clown” might sound like a cheap marketing gimmick, but it neatly expresses two facts: that clown has its own history, and that we have our own historical moment. In other words, we can learn from the past but the present is unique. It’s also a way of setting myself apart from the suffocating effects of post-Lecoq orthodoxy which, unbelievably 50 years on, is still leading UK drama schools up the garden path.
Conceived, Written and Performed by Jon Davison
Jon Davison has over 25 years experience as a clown performer, director, teacher and researcher; co-founder of the ground-breaking clown-theatre company Companyia d’Idiotes in Barcelona, and co-director of studies at the Escola de Clown de Barcelona.
www.jondavison.net
info@jondavison.net
tel. (+44) 07796 155 546