The Clown Method

The clown is more than merely an art product.
He awakens an old desire in us which has almost been lost: the wish to turn things upside down and look at them from a different perspective. The clown represents a particular way of seeing the world, with his special manner of communicating and acting.

His method is the play - a good clown will always be a master in this. And even if the playful manner of the clown looks simple to create, be sure that it is the result of long and painful training, both physical and emotional. A profound knowledge of the "Body and Soul of Comic Relief" provides the nuts and bolts of professional failure.

Most fascinating for us is the clown's simplicity. With very few instruments, he is able to reach the essence of human desires, hopes, and fears.

In their play, children come to terms with their experience, thus creating a world of their own. The clown transports this wonderful quality of play into the grown-up world.
The mask of the clown enables us to get rid of our other masks and to develop a different power - our sense of humour. One of the most important principles of the clown is that we can say "Yes" to ourselves and the whole scale of our existence, not wasting energy in trying to be something else.

We then realise that our alleged weaknesses can be a source of great power. The clown's mask prevents us from pretending to be somebody else, and we learn to overcome our shyness. With or without the red nose, the clown shows us a way to sense ourselves, whether we overstate, understate, or just hustle and bustle along!

Through the way of playing we learn to trust in our "Saying Yes To Ourselves", to accept stimuli from others as well as send out stimuli to them, without listening constantly to our mental roadblocks. In this way, together we will experience the stream of play.

The clown's view of things is a clear subjective one. He cannot waste his energy on compromise or conflict. And he will love problems which are the basis for any good joke. People will find their way to the clown when they are fed up with pretending to be something else. The clown acts as a catalyst, putting his finger on the critical spot and thus reaching people across all social and intellectual boarders.