The Godliness of Clown (photo of Vesta Tilley)
Creativity is central to Human Nature. It does not matter what the art form is the “creative channels” as I call them are the same as the ‘healing channels”. As a small sample when one plays the piano the pianist channels the creativity specifically through the shoulders, arms, hands, fingers. Yet at the same time the musician’s whole body is 100% involved as is their intellect, emotions, feeling, imagination, and what one may artistically call their ‘godliness’. Whatever that is? Let’s keep it simple and give a light evasive definition such as “one’s whole self”; or, in my world view I’d crank it up a notch to: “Godliness is one’s whole self, warts ‘n all”.
Regarding the “creative channels” and “healing channels” likewise, a surgeon uses their “healing channels” comprising of all of the same physical, emotional, creative channels, intellectual elements including their ‘godliness’.
Clown is no better and no worse than any other field say from politician and petty thief to garbage collector and baker. .
Of course one of the many beauties and virtues of clowning is that anyone can do it. You don’t need a lifetime of practice since early childhood as does a pianist to be an advanced pianist. The same is true for a surgeon who will generally have shown some special and related personal, intellectual and emotional attributes since childhood.
Clown though is different. Anyone can do it.
However each person can do clowning to a greater or lesser degree based on a wide variety of personal attributes.
None the less there are some specific secrets that some professional Clowns possess mainly by having watched and even studied some of the Elders of Clown which I also refer to as The Dual Lineage of Clown that is comprised of the intertwined Matriarchal and Patriarchal. However, as a Clown is not a saint but is a trickster many Clowns do not share their secrets even when they pretend as if they are. Even when they say they are. Even when they are paid to tell their supposed ‘secret’.
In fact, sometimes a professional Clown when teaching will use the basic trick of a magician which is their technique of misdirection. Most clown teachers likely bring the Participants’ attention to the story: that they are telling ‘their secret’ when in fact the teacher is likely hiding their ‘secret’.
To be fair, I can tell a Participant a secret but its application depends 100% not on me but 100% on the individual being the type of person who takes the message, idea, or technique away and practices. I have created a method that includes a structure for any Participant including experienced Clowns to enhance directly their discipline. But that can only work if the Participant takes away some or part of the structure of exercises.
Really they only need to try to practice and magic WILL happen. Of course, given human nature we can guess that by far the majority of people will not take anything away to practice. Even if they do take something away to practice that take away is not at all a guarantee that they will actually practice.
I am as much a procrastinator as anyone else. So I know about not doing what I need to do. Until I finally get around to do what I need to do. Apparently I do like to take my good old time. On the other hand many people have accused me of being very disciplined. Mostly those were people who had witnessed me in a state of discipline. Whereas I would say my only discipline is being somewhat persistent even though I have lived a life of near total chaos.
At any rate I have made a persistent effort to openly teach thousands of individuals how to practice and what to practice on a foundational level. That even involves teaching how to practice the things that will give positive results. Yet such methodology still depends not only on what I have purified as ‘how to clown’ but depends more so, 100% upon any individual practicing with a minor amount of persistence. In fact my method has integrated within it a method of how to develop persistence. That is persistence of one’s own creative foundation.
What on Earth does any of that have to do with ‘godliness’? It appears as though nothing would be the correct answer. That’s funny, but, paradoxically true. ‘Godliness’ is about ‘nothingness’. They are likely one and the same.
Kandinsky’s painting – RHYTHM UNIVERSE
What appears to be nothing is everything. As far as I’m concerned ‘god’ is at once nothing or no-thing yet everything. As a layman with no valid science training I can still use a metaphor as a tool of the intellect and imagination. Physics tells us – like “the bible tells us so” – that The Big Bang initiated Creation of the Universe. Physics – like “the bible tells us so” – tells us that the event or ‘explosion’ took .0015 of a second. Further, Physics tells us – like “the bible tells us so”, that Creation from that point i.e. from point-zero-zero-one-five of a second has been continually evolving, expanding, creating at a rate beyond human comprehension other than one’s imagination or calculation.
Clowning for me is about the infinitesimally minute event both within a Clown and outside of the Clown. That may be what the Russian acting teacher Konstantin Stanislavsky called Prana a term which he used as a metaphor for the invisible interaction between a performer and the audience. Prana is when a split second feels timeless.
My M.A. Thesis was an attempt to explain how that one second might work as an ideal. My method articulates what one has to do in order to make the ideal manifest on demand. To control creativity as it were. That is to have the control that creates a sensation that we might call ‘godliness’. In Classical Acting that is also called “presence” and it is considered ephemeral and an act of Nature, or of one’s nature.
One can, and MANY do, say anything altruistic about Clown or any art form. Such altruism may be nothing more than ephemeral philosophizing. Often such teachers have an eternal material interest especially as many of the teachers use the magician’s misdirection to convince the Participants to believe in their ephemeral philosophizing hokum. Hokum is an old American expression for hoodwinking the public. Hoodwinking is an old American expression for a rort (an Australian expression), a con, a rip-off, a cheat, or a scam.
Here’s a little pause of entertainment from an idea thread I title “Cartoon IS Clown”. The most hoodwinking character doesn’t appear in this excerpt. That character is named Wimpy whose famous rort line was “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”. For my generation of Clowns born and raised in the USA cartoons of our youth became a MAJOR inspiration for our clowning. During our youth the movie houses offered a weekend special of 2 feature films plus a reel of 17 cartoons! Those were likely from a greater cartoon producer such as the Hanna-Barbera corporation.
In Clown teaching, hokum’s, hoodwinking, rorts and even scams which abound are not as negative as that sounds. People get what they pay for or what they deserve. People want a quick solution and a guarantee. In Clown training there are no guarantees. At least no guarantee that is sure to be long-lasting. Often they don’t last as long as it takes to shut the door upon leaving the studio after the training is completed.
None the less, anyone can clown. Not everyone is going to ‘become a Clown’. There is no need for everyone to become a clown. Everyone and anyone can pretend and act like a clown. To ‘become a Clown’ is an unknown and ephemeral possibility.
However, it is more likely an unlikely possibility. Still, for anyone doing even – a 1 hour workshop or a 1 day workshop or even just a 1 week workshop in Clown that can and should be and likely will be an eventful and enjoyable experience. Of course for some it may not be enjoyable at all. Instead it might just be an experience or even a challenge. Those are all good things in life.
Only now will I tell you a few secrets. Of course I have many dozens of secrets already publicly within my books; blogs; and online videos. In fact there are likely at least 100 or so useful secrets in those caches. Some of the secrets I tell bluntly and openly; some I hide ‘in between the sentences’ as it were; and for some secrets I give explicit step-by-step instructions so that all you need to do is practice them and magic will happen.
As I often mention, my whole basic template, a chronology of my creative exercises fills Chapter 2 of the book Clown Secret. Each exercise has clear step-by-step instructions.
Here are two secrets to Clown, clowning, becoming a clown; and/or improving your clowning/performing/teaching/directing of Clown. Or we can just call them ‘ideas’ if you like.
One secret idea is a question: What did the wonderful Clowns ACTUALLY do to become so wonderful? If I use my generation of professional Clowns then I would say this first secret idea is that they (including myself) almost each and every one made a short Clown act or performance piece that was perhaps only about 3 or 4 minutes long. That first act or acts did not need to be very good. It only had to be either repeatable or to have a structure upon which one could improvise with.
After we made one act we all tended to make a few more as soon as possible. If for example one had three 4-minutes acts then one could get hired or could just get an opportunity to perform for free to try out one’s acts in front of a small public audience. One could try. Recover. Try again, and again and again all the while improving.
To be quite honest, most people who have attended Clown workshops no matter how long and how many times and how many different teachers and different approaches… still most people would not have done what my generation did naturally which was to start by making a short act. Then one would try to find a place to perform it. Many could and would just take that short act or acts out to a plaza or to a public place and would perform for any person, dog, child, or pigeon.
But most people, who claim to have trained as a Clown, cannot create a short act. Even for those who can create a small act, they often don’t go out anywhere and perform it in a free public space.
That is fine. I trust that they still enjoyed the clown workshops that they paid for and, on the first level is all that counts. Did you go? Did you enjoy the experience? If so, that is what is expected. Well done.
But for other people they still don’t understand that to be a Clown… it is 100% up to you and not up to the ‘teacher’.
Then again there are any number of performing Clowns who have not yet learned the secrets that I present openly.
What does all that have to do with ‘godliness’. Honesty is a form of ‘godliness’.
Being totally honest is not at all ‘godly’.
Here’s a 2nd secret idea. Clown has Elders. I generally encourage people who want to Clown or want to teach and/or direct clown; or who even just want to know about Clown; then they will benefit from understanding that Clown has public Elders which I refer to as The Dual Lineage of an intertwined Matriarchy/Patriarchy. As a sample some of the Matriarchal clown Elders might include: Fanny Brice; Mae West; Gracie Allen; Josephine Baker; Vesta Tilley; Lucille Ball; Martha Raye; Imogen Coca; Carol Burnett – for example. The Patriarchal clown Elders might include: Charlie Chaplin; Buster Keaton: Harold Llloyd; Red Skelton; Joe E. Brown: Bert Lahr; Ed Wynn; Jerry Lewis; Danny Kaye; Sid Caesar; Redd Foxx; Richard Pryor; Jim Carrie; Robin Williams; Steve Martin – for example. All of those people had live stage careers but we now may know of them via film and or television.
By knowing of the actual Elders a learner can thus have plenty of admirable artists whose knowhow and techniques and gifted performances one can learn from and be inspired by. I’ve only mentioned a small percentage of such admirable Clowns. I think every one of those examples and 100s more certainly had a revealed ‘godliness’ about their stage presence that was palpable and is even today observable.
Those are two secret ideas which each have great potency.
Nonetheless I claim there is a way of finding, honing, developing one’s own presence and ‘godliness’ in performance generally and in Clown specifically.
Technically as a professional clown I think first and foremost one would benefit most by first training the body in any form of athleticism which has a long history and an incremental scientific methodology of development and longevity.
However the mind, intellect, and creative imagination also need nourished and honed.
Photo – Mae West in Catherine Was Great – on Broadway 1944
The simplest yet most thorough and open method may very well be my own Four Articulations for Performance. That is a concise chronology of original physical-creative exercises. Again that is all spelled out generously and openly with step-by-step instructions that comprises the whole of Chapter 2 of Clown Secret.
At the end of that chapter is a GREAT CONCISE SECRET!!!! The Short Set of Five Exercises. Each of those exercises are in Chapter 2. At the recommended tempo it takes only 15 minutes to complete the whole set. Whether one is a veteran, teacher, director, choreographer, or novice I am certain that The Short Set of Five Exercises would automatically enhance your own creativity. The whole method uses what I call “Universal Principles” and therefore can be applied and adapted endlessly.
Here’s one of those exercises that is in The Four Articulations and is in The Short Set of Five Exercises. It is so simple that you’ll be able to get up an try it just after you watch the video. If you try it for example three times in a row – and for about 5 days in a row – and you have any questions about that then you are welcome to write to me at iraseid@gmail.com
The exercise is The Nothing Exercise. It looks too simple, like nothing. Whereas it’s simplicity is its secret. Here in the 3 minutes video I explain it extremely briefly. In this blog-essay I have already mentioned or at least implied that nothing or nothingness and godliness are perhaps one and the same phenomenon of the Human’s wholeness of; body, mind, spirit, and creativity.
The Four Articulations includes a Teaching aspect i.e. it IS a tool for anyone to learn how to teach Clown and to Direct Clown via one’s own aesthetic. The key is that Core Mechanics (a section of The Four Articulations) for example, is a tool for an individual to SEE what the actors ARE DOING.
Rather than being a teacher or director who projects onto the unsuspecting actor what they ‘should’ or ‘should not’ be doing. Very often a teacher in Clown and a director in Clown are fundamentalists themselves. Like many theatre directors they may possibly be a bit “Anal Retentive” or a bit of a “control freak”. Such weaknesses can also be positive attributes.
The Participant in The Four Articulations workshops (even online) or just in doing the exercises learns:
A) how to observe themselves in action; and
B) how to observe, accurately and scientifically what a person is ACTUALLY DOING.
The way that B) – the ability to SEE is developed is via: A) – self-observation of one’s Action and Attitude – WHILE CREATIVELY INVOLVED.
As well as – IMPORTANTLY – the discipline of Bearing Witness to the Artistic Life, Individuality, Virtues, Weaknesses, Struggles, and Breakthroughs to their Own Soul while ON THE FLOOR WORKING.
I ‘teach’ that via clarifying the Split Second Principle of Observation and Experience that 1 second on stage is a continual Big Bang i.e. the unfolding of Creation or Creativity. It is said via science that The Big Bang lasted approximately .0015 of a second. So my theory is that every second on stage counts. The Four Articulations has a great variety of Counts and Counting. Integers Count.
This little blog has provided two profound secret ideas. It is explained how there are a LOT more secret ideas within The Four Articulations; and The Short Set of Five Exercises; and perhaps 100 more within my books and blog essays.
Well for those few of you who got this far here is another secret idea. I’ve written about in my books. Clown Culture. One of the reasons that people have been coming to clown workshops since the 1970s is that they are what I call “Seekers”. They are seeking Culture. Our modernized and populating world has been increasingly loosing Culture and Cultures. What we have instead is cults of all sorts including “anti-cult cults”; and the cult of ‘fitness’; and the cult of spirituality; and yes there is a cult of clown and clowning. That is a ‘benevolent’ cult. But it is still a cult i.e. an organization or loose collection that always has the ‘collection plate’ open for donations paid in advance:)
None the less beginning decades ago, I have stated and later written, that people are actually coming to Clown (workshops) because they are missing having a true Culture. But I explain more aspects about that in the book Clown Secret in the chapter “Clown vs God… Notes on The Clown Movement“
Although my whole method addresses that. I do have a few exercises which are more specific to Clown Culture. For example the Quantum Vocal Warm-up finishes with and exercise “Cultural Singing”. There is also a fantastic ensemble exercise “The Quantum Theatre Ritual”. Finally back to the beginning – Culture is in one’s body and the space and place where one presently exists. The whole of The Four Articulations is about “the body of the actor in the space of the theatre”. That is a Cultural practice in which one will directly and automatically locate oneself in their own State of Godliness.
Feel free to write to me directly at iraseid@gmail.com – The Four Articulations can now be learned online via I.S.A.A.C. Creative Mentorship see: www.iraseid.com NOTE: Related are two Blog-Essays below: