Today, Tuesday 6th of June, 2012, I went for
lunch to the “Covent Garden” in London with some family friends. There, I
encountered a very popular form of theatre, and what I think is one of the most
entertaining, brave and accessible forms of theatre there are; what I like
calling “Street Theatre”. This form of theatre (the ones I saw) consisted of :
1.
Mime
2.
Clowns
3.
Jugglers
They are all forms of environmental theatre in a way, as
they use the spaces they have as their stage, however they rely more on the
open spaced/ public venues to perform and therefore these places become
characteristic to these forms of theatre.
What I noticed they all had in common was that their performances had to be:
1. Short (normally little skits and “episode” of different stories/excercises (e.g. Clowns rode unicycles in one skit and then told some jokes in another)
What I noticed they all had in common was that their performances had to be:
1. Short (normally little skits and “episode” of different stories/excercises (e.g. Clowns rode unicycles in one skit and then told some jokes in another)
2. They had to be funny- as the people where walking by and
it was a form of attracting the public
3. It had to show some kind of “wow factor” something
unusual or that had some feeling of thrill to the audience- to keep the
audience engaged. E.g. Balancing acts
As further research, I looked into Comedy theatre. Interesting enough, traditional western theatre is divided into 2 categories, Drama and Comedy:
A drama ended typically with the tragic death of the fictional (or even sometimes historical) liked character or hero of the story, where as comedy plays normally evolved around more middle class problems, and family/daily stories, and ended with happy endings.
According to Thomas Hobbes, he speaks of laughter as a “sudden glory” and is correlated with the feeling of superiority, which is an essential factor produced by the comedy, and which makes this type of acting/theatre sometimes more enjoyable and likeable!
Voice projection was very important to make everyone hear, and most of them added some musical elements to accompany their skits, normally music that the audience recognized “expected music”. The music was normally fast paced to accompany the tension and the climatic moments of the skits e.g. when they were up in one wheel and it seemed as if they were falling off) and aswell as to help the anticlimax of the scenes.
It was responsibility of the actors/performance to engage the audience, sometimes by getting members to help out or clap for them, to create a more involved performance, that worked with elements of teamwork. I thought that this was a clever way of engaging the audience and its theory was based in psychology!! I personally, when seeing groups of people gathered around someone and laughing, want to join in as I am in the need of a laugh. When people are taken as “helpers” by the performers, I , (as part of the audience) mentally divide the two groups of people (the performer and the “human”) and because the performer is carrying tasks that take years to master, I straight away know that the episode of watching a “normal/human” person trying to fulfill the tasks will be curious/funny/embarrassing and intense, and therefore I watch. If other people seem to have fun and the task seems interesting, I will want to stay and hope they take me next time! Hehe!
As show in the video I took, the Jugglers have used a little boy to help create the tension and illusion of the object getting very close to him, but not touching him! This thrill effect is what kept the audience around me so interested!
Pantomime and Sir Charlie Chaplin!
Pantomime originates from the Ancient Greece, and although they were comedic performances that were not necessarily silent, they evolved into mime and dumb shows starting in Medieval Europe.
Charlie Chaplin, born long ago on the 16th of April 1889, was the most famous English comic actor, composer and film director of the silent film era, and was excellent at slapstick, visual comedy and mime. He died on the 25th of December 1977.
It was amazing to think that his parents were both entertainers in the music hall tradition, and this summer in London, about 50 years later, Charlie Chaplin has left such a great influence in comedian performers today, as I saw someone mimicking his style!
This mummer, as shown in the video, was dressed in black and white costume and makeup to imitate the feel of the old Chaplin, and used this theatrical medium for the acting of a story through his body motions, facial expressions and gestures, with out using speech.
Recommendation!!!!: This summer, I watched the movie of “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius, which is a modern representation of the old and loved Silent, black and white films. It is not only a very touching love story, but it made me feel as if I had been transported back in time to another era, where although the wording was simple and strictly minimalistic, the emotions were still portrayed with intensity by the ensemble of music, body expressions, laughter, tears, genuine gestures, hugs and dance moves of the characters! I loves it and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in something different!
Bibliography:
As further research, I looked into Comedy theatre. Interesting enough, traditional western theatre is divided into 2 categories, Drama and Comedy:
A drama ended typically with the tragic death of the fictional (or even sometimes historical) liked character or hero of the story, where as comedy plays normally evolved around more middle class problems, and family/daily stories, and ended with happy endings.
According to Thomas Hobbes, he speaks of laughter as a “sudden glory” and is correlated with the feeling of superiority, which is an essential factor produced by the comedy, and which makes this type of acting/theatre sometimes more enjoyable and likeable!
Voice projection was very important to make everyone hear, and most of them added some musical elements to accompany their skits, normally music that the audience recognized “expected music”. The music was normally fast paced to accompany the tension and the climatic moments of the skits e.g. when they were up in one wheel and it seemed as if they were falling off) and aswell as to help the anticlimax of the scenes.
It was responsibility of the actors/performance to engage the audience, sometimes by getting members to help out or clap for them, to create a more involved performance, that worked with elements of teamwork. I thought that this was a clever way of engaging the audience and its theory was based in psychology!! I personally, when seeing groups of people gathered around someone and laughing, want to join in as I am in the need of a laugh. When people are taken as “helpers” by the performers, I , (as part of the audience) mentally divide the two groups of people (the performer and the “human”) and because the performer is carrying tasks that take years to master, I straight away know that the episode of watching a “normal/human” person trying to fulfill the tasks will be curious/funny/embarrassing and intense, and therefore I watch. If other people seem to have fun and the task seems interesting, I will want to stay and hope they take me next time! Hehe!
As show in the video I took, the Jugglers have used a little boy to help create the tension and illusion of the object getting very close to him, but not touching him! This thrill effect is what kept the audience around me so interested!
Pantomime and Sir Charlie Chaplin!
Pantomime originates from the Ancient Greece, and although they were comedic performances that were not necessarily silent, they evolved into mime and dumb shows starting in Medieval Europe.
Charlie Chaplin, born long ago on the 16th of April 1889, was the most famous English comic actor, composer and film director of the silent film era, and was excellent at slapstick, visual comedy and mime. He died on the 25th of December 1977.
It was amazing to think that his parents were both entertainers in the music hall tradition, and this summer in London, about 50 years later, Charlie Chaplin has left such a great influence in comedian performers today, as I saw someone mimicking his style!
This mummer, as shown in the video, was dressed in black and white costume and makeup to imitate the feel of the old Chaplin, and used this theatrical medium for the acting of a story through his body motions, facial expressions and gestures, with out using speech.
Recommendation!!!!: This summer, I watched the movie of “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius, which is a modern representation of the old and loved Silent, black and white films. It is not only a very touching love story, but it made me feel as if I had been transported back in time to another era, where although the wording was simple and strictly minimalistic, the emotions were still portrayed with intensity by the ensemble of music, body expressions, laughter, tears, genuine gestures, hugs and dance moves of the characters! I loves it and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in something different!
Bibliography:
GOoogle images: The artist
Jugglers!
Mime show!
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