THE BRIDGE IN THE NOSE (Linz)

PROPOSAL

It is well known that in the world of clowns there is no such thing as the famous "fourth wall" of theater. That thing, or limit, that divides the world of the stage -and its actors- from the world of the spectator. But what does it mean that there is no fourth wall? Does that mean that clowns and people in the audience are all mixed up? Or that every clown show invariably needs to be "interactive" in the strictest sense of that word?

For me, the fact that there is no "fourth wall" means that there is a bridge. Or as many bridges as there are clowns and audiences. The bridges that clowns create between themselves and those who watch them are unique works of art. They can be solid and huge. They can be narrow and flimsy. They can be simple, pompous, comfortable, uncomfortable, extravagant, outdated, fantastic. Through them the most diverse materials, proposals and universes can circulate. And it is in the creation, in the support and in transit of those bridges that clowns exist, are modified and grow.

If the bridge disintegrates completely, the connection between clown and public is broken. And either the show dies or the fourth wall is reborn.

On the way each clown creates and moves on that bridge; on how that bridge can be modified if the public, or the environment, or the partners are modified; and on how the dialogue that this bridge generates on its two shores, modifies them; is what this Workshop wants to work on.

OBJECTIVES:

To deepen and develop the clown technique, with special emphasis on:

.Contact with the audience. Fine-tuning the listening to it. Expanding our ability to perceive the reaction to what our proposals produce in those who look at us. And also to generate new actions in relation to that.

.Listening to the stage partners.

The development of imagination and play.

.The transformation of impulses into constructive actions of stage play.

.Projection, availability and stage presence.

.The transit through (and acceptance of) vulnerability, failure and ridicule as constitutive and founding parts of clown work.

WORKING ELEMENTS:

Comfortable clothes.

Costume, nose and objects of each clown (including shoes and coats suitable for street wear)

Transport tickets or cards, if necessary. 

LANGUAGE OF THE WORKSHOP: English