What's so funny?
Clown and Physical Comedy workshop
Weekend intensive workshop lead by Adam Boncz
What's so funny?
Clown and Physical Comedy workshop
Weekend intensive workshop lead by Adam Boncz
INFO
TOPIC: Clown, physical comedy
REQUIREMENT: No previous training required, for beginners and advanced
LANGUAGE: English, Hungarian
DATE: 23-24. November 2024. Saturday - Sunday 10:00-17:30
"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge
Why is something funny on stage? What is the joy the performer feels on stage and why does the audience feel it? Can we use our imagination and creativity to create comic and even comedic-poetic situations on stage? And if so, what are some practical ways of creating them on stage? These are the questions this workshop will try to answer, with games, improvisation, exercises and, of course, lots of humour.
What can you expect this weekend?
Comedy, and comic situations on stage, permeate all elements of the theatre and film world, yet relatively little is said about them during classical acting training. Yet finding the inner clown, discovering and exploiting comic situations is a beautiful, exciting, challenging but also very entertaining task. Not to mention the fact that there are a lot of theatrical practices and tricks that can be learned, and the comedic thinking on stage can be developed and trained. But most importantly, it has to be done with real joy, with the joy of the play, otherwise the whole thing is somewhat pointless.
In this workshop we will explore what this joy is, try to bring out the playful and ridiculous clown in us and also hone our physical comedy skills. We’ll explore the important role our breathing plays in storytelling on stage, and discover why finding (and solving) a particular stage problem is an essential part of a comedic scene. We will learn how to plan and execute physical comedy situations so that we can apply them to any performance as an actor, comedian or clown.
This workshop will attempt to walk you through the physical and logical skills needed to build physical comedy scenes. Physical comedy is difficult in many ways, but mostly because it usually requires the actor to be present on two levels simultaneously. The first level is the actor, who actively works on the stage to prepare and perform the comic event (the actor level). At the same time, the actor must also be free and playful and play with the audience, living authentically and truthfully in the situation (let’s call this the clown level), so that the audience is fully engaged with the emotional life of the performance and does not notice the work behind it.
So it takes some skill, character-building and a lot of practice to really master this joyful journey. At the same time, the clown level should not be neglected. After all, there are many times when we see a perfectly staged comic scene and we don’t laugh. We may be technically impressed, but it’s just not that funny. Without the personal-clown level, these comedy routines remain sappy and boring.
We also learn that it’s okay to make mistakes, we can be bad and are allowed to fail. What’s more, we can use this to our advantage. And if we succeed, we may end up understanding ourselves a little better, and by using this deeper awareness on stage, we will be able to dive into comic situations more freely and joyfully.
Who is it for?
The workshop requires no previous experience. You can be a professional performer, amateur actor, drama teacher or anyone interested in theatre and comedy who wants to be inspired, play, deepen and grow.
Language: English, Hungarian
Course leader: Adam Boncz
He began his career at the Szeged National Theatre, and after graduating from the legendary Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in New York, he spent 10 years in New York theatres. He has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, as well as at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. During his years in New York, he gained insight into the Lecoq technique and also studied pantomime with one of the legendary pantomime artists in the US, Richmond Shepard. In addition, he had the opportunity to receive clown teacher training from New York’s most famous clown/comedy master, Yale University’s Christopher Bayes. He has performed in Moscow with two clowns from Slava’s Snowshow, directed comedy and created physical comedy etudes for the Built on Stilts festival, and for Hybrid Theater Works and Artificial Moon Company. In addition to his theatrical roles, he has been seen in several international feature films and series including Shadow and Bone, FBI: International, Fear Index and Infinity Pool.
Workshop topics
- The joy of being on stage
- Clown principals: the success and failure of the clown
- Discovering comic situations
- The use of creative imagination on stage
- Comedic rhythm and timing
- Object-play and manipulation
Date and time:
23-24. NOVEMBER 2024.
saturday 10:00-17:30
sunday 10:00-17:30
Location:
Metro Works Színházi Szabadiskola – rehearsal room
1062 Budapest, Aradi utca 62.(10 minutes walk from Oktogon , 2 minutes from Kodály körönd)
Price: 47 500 Ft
Early bird price until
5. November:
42 500 Ft
Discounted price for the
complete Comedy workshop-series: 152000 Ft
(38000 Ft/workshop)
LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE