Bouffon Weekend Intensive

Potsdam, Germany
Join Robyn Hambrook for a weekend deep dive into the intense, fun and liberating world of the bouffon.

The dark cousin of the clown, sharp and dangerous, the Bouffon revel in parody, mockery and wit.
The Bouffon “... believe in nothing and make fun of everything” according to Jacques Lecoq.

And through breaking social conventions, the bouffon can access extreme levels of freedom, laughter, intelligence and emotion.

Over the two days we will explore this fantastic comedic form through: Complicity, Bouffon Chorus, Emotional Freedom, Laughter, Bouffon position to the audience, and Parody. Participants will explore rhythms of a different, ‘fantastic’ body (grotesque, distorted and abstract).

The position of Bouffon can be an incredibly liberating and powerful experience for participants. It’s a physical form that trains presence, immediacy, improvisation and imagination.

This course is suitable for clowns, actors and performers interested in broadening their repertoire or exploring the political edges of their work. For non-actors the bouffon provides a safe place to let go, loosen up and feel free.
"An amazing exploration of physicality, tapping into ugliness and taboo. Really affirming and beautiful connections, questioning and mocking constructions of gender and what it is to be pretty, good, or acceptable. A great starting point for understanding bouffon and what it can be. Heaps of fun!" Participant - Laboratory of The Un-Beautiful Online

How it works

Dates & times:
Saturday and Sunday 25th-26th February 2023
10am - 5pm
Venue:
remise/werkstatt für clownforschung
Lennéstr. 74/75
14471 Potsdam
Cost:
Early Bird Spaces 1-6  € 175
                 Spaces 6-12 €195
More information about the course & remise/werkstatt für clownforschung can be found here
“A must for anyone wanting to take their connection with and ideas for theatre work a little closer to a devilish cutting edge.” Participant - Laboratory of The Un-Beautiful Weekend Intensive

"Robyn's unique blend of directing and shaping play through quick wit and a caring yet urgent tone - sets the tone and pace beautifully." Participant - Activist Clown Weekend Intensive
ABOUT ROBYN
Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma and Deanna Fleysha.
Robyn has collaborated with companies including Let’s Circus, The Sexual Health Circus and Whispering Wood Folk and performed with acclaimed physical theatre companies including, Derevo, Akhe, Oceanallover, and Gappad as well as her own award-winning company, Fun in the Oven Theatre.
During the pandemic in 2020, Robyn set up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit and developed a series of Zoom Clown Courses. Robyn’s research, started during her Masters, has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and activism, online, in the real world and with international collaborators. With this drive to explore political edges of her work she has also dived back into the world of the Bouffon; training with Jaime Mears, Bim Mason, Nathaniel Justiniano, Eric Davis, Tim Licata, Al Seed and the grand master Bouffon-himself; Philippe Gaulier. She has also set up the Laboratory of the Un-beautiful; a collaboration with Deborah Antoinette Bard, exploring the bouffon & grotesque with womxn theatre makers.