Discovering the Clown, or The Funny Book of Good Acting

by Christopher Bayes, Virginia Scott (With)

Discovering the Clown, or The Funny Book of Good Acting is a unique glimpse into the wild world of the Clown, unveiling “the playful self, the unsocialized self, the naive self…the big stupid who just wants to have some fun with the audience.” An essential guide for artists and actors wanting to set free the messy and hilarious Clown within.

Genres: Theatre, Art, Nonfiction, Comedy

192 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2019

Reviews

[Kurly Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When you strap on this little mask, it is important that you banish from your thoughts any clichés that you may have of what a clown is. Particularly in the United States, the image or icon of the clown has been co-opted by the circus performer with the big shoes and the rainbow wig, or the one on the TV who wants to sell you a cheeseburger, or is cynical and smokes cigars, or the scary one at the birthday party who wants you to come down into the basement with them and their Polaroid camera. Those are icky clowns. (They live in Wisconsin mostly.) Clowns are not icky. They are beautiful. We must try to banish these clichés in order for us to proceed. The clown is ancient. Clowns go back to the first pagan festivals and the first storytelling circles. You must try to let yourself play the smallest mask in the world [the red nose] simply without any preconceived ideas of what you might discover."

Terrific. Would recommend to any creative, not just actors or people interested in clowning. Uncover your whimsical idiot and let them drive your body every now and then. You will find joy.

Would also recommend the very specific experience of reading your clown-girlfriend's personal copy complete with her annotations and notes-to-self if possible. This will be a cute, holistic peak into her brain and it will make you turn every new page with extra love and curiosity.

[Kit · Rating 5 out of 5]

so i need to be a clown and clown for the rest of my life! got it! cool!

[aedan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve realized that the clown in me comes out when I’m drunk. Now I need to learn to manifest him when sober

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not want this to end!! Cannot wait to reread

[Jeremy]

Overview:

Enthusiasm:
strong excitement and active interest

Mercurial:
characterized by rapid and unpredictable change of mood

Frivolous:
lacking in seriousness

Guileless:
not sly or tricky : INNOCENT, NAïVE

Foolish:
lacking in good sense or judgment : SILLY

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster's Intermediate Dictionary, Newest Edition, Kindle Edition (Kindle Locations 41682, 64903-64904, 47279-47280, 50480-50481, 46194). Merriam-Webster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

If these words describe some of your favorite characters, they may have been drawn from the same creative juices that nourish the clown.

As a preview of his acting class, the Yale School of Drama's Head of Physical Acting Christopher Bayes wrote his reflections on what it means to perform as a clown. Skating above the clown's modern reputation as creepy, lame, and pathetic, Bayes portrays a creature of spontaneity in touch with their inner child.

As a disclaimer, do not read this as the last word on what "clown" means. I'm going to speak definitively for my own convenience, but I would have no problem with contradicting myself if I were to talk about someone else's perspective. As always, you will learn more from a book if you read it as the author's perspective and not the author's authority.

Points of Interest:

* Clowns are animated by four feelings: fear, anger, despair and play. Most of those don't sound fun, but it can be fun to watch them in a clown. These are feelings that children have access to without much provoking. Adults still have these feelings, but they have typically trained themselves not to let them out. Letting them out as an adult would be a spectacle. That spectacle is what Christopher Bayes is in the business of producing. This pre-socialized childishness is the core appeal of a clown.

* Clowns have no skills. They can possibly juggle one ball or balance on one foot or jump over something small, but they have never practiced anything. Rather than practicing a new skill, clowns will train to physically react to their own impulses instead of internalizing them. This training enables an uninhibited expression of the four feelings. Tantrum, screaming when startled, outdoor voice, bawling, exuberance, voicing your feelings without relying on words: these are the clown's stock and trade.

* Clowns have no knowledge. In their empty-headedness, the world never becomes familiar to them so they are continually discovering. The appeal of the clown is the unique enthusiasm that they bring to the endless sequence of novelties that they encounter.

* Bayes covers these points poetically on page 81:

The clown sees the world in a soft way and enjoys the feeling of the wind as it blows through the soft brain. The clown sees something beautiful and falls in love. The clown hears a loud noise and is scared. The clown sees something sparkly and tries to catch it. The clown is always in search of something yummy or something sparkly. The clown is also on the lookout for Mr. Bitey and spikey things. Once all the muscles are in place and the impulses are free, the only thing left for the actor to do is listen to the world with great curiosity and see what it has to offer them today.

Personal Impressions:

I'm drawn to Christopher Bayes' clowns because of their strengths which I lack. We share a lack of propriety, but mine is hidden behind my inability to express myself. Clowns, on the other hand, enjoy a perfect coordination of feeling and action. My mind punishes me for everything I say in public. Clowns are too preoccupied with the present to pay any mind to their mistakes. I love to see emotion. I have emotions, but I can't share them without a concentrated effort toward explanation. Clowns exist without ambiguity.

This book was written for actors, but I read it as a guide to writing cartoon characters. What Bayes' clowns lack in depth, they make up for in delight.

[Hew Parham · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot to love about this book, I can tell that Bayes has enormous sensitivity and skill in this craft. In many ways I loved that he said it wasn't an instructional manual as clown is such a feel thing, I perhaps have enough craft and experience under my belt so I was able to find the encouragements useful and could apply to my skill set. However I wonder if a few practical exercises could have been useful for the newbie. For example I don't feel there was much emphasised about eye contact and the connection and conversation with the audience, that connection for me being huge before talking about the flop. I think a book like Ton Kurstjen's The Clown from Heart to Heart has a nice balance of philoshophy whilst also giving you some practical exercises. It gives you the base upon which you can find the feel.
I like that Bayes expresses that this is just his approach and an encouragement from me for those interested in clown is to experiment with other approaches to find your fit. For example I agree that the clown should make noise as he or she moves but I am less inclined to use language in the initial stages of teaching as I want students to get away from using language to explain or indicate everything and find the intelligence and specificity of their body before the voice. After all as children we don't really speak with any great fluidity until we are a few years old so why should clowns until they are walking?
I'd love to work with Bayes and take one of his classes one day.

[Santiago Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read “Discovering the Clown” after taking Chris’ 2 day workshop in New York City. I had 0 experience in the performing arts and I knew nothing about clowning or Chris before taking this workshop. Despite this, and the fact that I am not an actor, I benefitted immensely from the workshop and from the ideas in Chris’ book. The essence of Chris’ work is connecting with the silly, innocent “little kid” inside all of us, the kid that hasn’t yet been told to “settle down” by society. The hope is that by teaching an actor to connect with his or her unfiltered, authentic, vulnerable self, they can bring this to their acting. However, even for a non-actor like myself, this incredibly uncomfortable experience helped me practice being more vulnerable with myself and other people, and start the process of shedding some of the “masks” that keep me from “showing up” in the world

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an actor. I’m getting my BFA in acting at a top ranked acting school, so I’ve been reading a lot of books about acting lately, as well as doing some acting, I suppose.

This is the best book about acting I have ever read.

Yes, it’s about discovering the clown. But in discovering the clown, you discover the self. In my experience, the better I knew myself, the more I was able to free myself of all the times in life I have ever been told no. Chris Bayes gives powerful insight after powerful insight about developing a beautiful and stupid and funny and tragic and explosive capacity for expression to take on to every stage for the rest of your life.

I will revisit this book like gospel for years to come. Thank you, Chris Bayes. I’ll get myself in one of your classes as soon as I can!

[Ineta Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was curious to step into the world of clowning. But I found so much wisdom in acting, being creative, and simply being a free, curious human. Facing the basement of your body and living and creating out of the fullness of life. It is written so lightly but contains a lot of solid inspiration.

[Sheila Ajjie · Rating 5 out of 5]

so eye-opening

I’m preparing for a performance and I really wanted to get in touch with my playful and vulnerable side. This was just the book I needed. I’m even considering taking the classes now.

[Branson Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, simple approach to comedy! Took such a complex idea and made it approachable in such a unique way. Mandatory reading for all theatre practitioners!

[Serenity · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main premise is that we need to develop our inner clown who is uninhibited, funny, etc. I would have liked to have seen some wild and crazy ideas on how to actually implement this goal.

[Lake Valentine]

had to read this for a class