The Idiosyncratic Body: Contemporary Clown Theory and Practice

Drawing on historical research, personal interviews, performance analysis, and my own embodied experience as a participant-observer in several clown workshops, I explore the diverse historical influences on clown theatre as it is conceived today. I then investigate how the concept of embodied knowledge is reflected in red-nose clown pedagogy. Finally, I argue that through shared embodied knowledge spectators are able to perceive and appreciate the humor of clown theatre in performance. I propose that clown theatre represents a reaction to the eroding personal connections prompted by the so-called information age, and that humor in clown theatre is a revealing index of socio-cultural values, attitudes, dispositions, and concerns.

O clown visitador no tratamento de crianças hospitalizadas

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

Clown, processo criativo : rito de iniciação e passagem

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View to theatre from landscape.

Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View to theatre from landscape.

Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View to theatre from landscape.

Roof structure internal, Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View of carved king post.

Seating area interior, Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View of seating area from theatre interior.

Ceiling interior, Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View of carved king post from interior.

Ceiling interior, Raun Raun Theatre, Goroka

View to underside of thatched roof with king post and bracing.

Australia’s Lily Brayton: Performer and theatre artist

Recognition is the aim of this account of an artist who is now remembered largely for her beauty, her wide iconic fame achieved by mass distribution of her image via photography and postcards, and her professional association with a internationally prominent producer who was also her husband. It is however a historically situated study, confining itself to readings of the kind of theatrical, social and cultural work performed by Brayton's presence in a rapidly-modernising Australia during the period between Federation in 1901 and the first World War, which event marks a disjuncture in the patterns of entertainment and cultural discourse in the new nation. Pre-war Australian theatre and vaudeville managements competed vigorously to secure the most acclaimed artists, seeing it as a kind of service and duty to boost their country's prestige along with their own coffers. Meanwhile, local playwrights and producers promoted a burgeoning repertoire of Australian dramas and films which played alongside the imported products in a complex network of cultural codes and affects.