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A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. The art of performing as a clown is known as clowning or buffoonery, and the term "clown" may be used synonymously with predecessors like jester, buffoon, joker, fool, or harlequin. Clowns have a diverse tradition with significant variations in costume and performance. The most recognisable clowns are those that commonly perform in the circus, characterized by colorful wigs, red noses, and oversized shoes. However, clowns have also played roles in theater and folklore, like the court jesters of the Middle Ages and the jesters and ritual clowns of various indigenous cultures. Their performances can elicit a range of emotions, from humor and laughter to fear and discomfort, reflecting complex societal and psychological dimensions. Through the centuries, clowns have continued to play significant roles in society, evolving alongside changing cultural norms and artistic expressions.
Harlequin is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan Ganassa in the late 16th century, was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in Paris in 1584–1585, and became a stock character after Martinelli's death in 1630.
A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during royal court. Jesters were also traveling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events.
Harlequinade is an English comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries. It was originally a slapstick adaptation or variant of the commedia dell'arte, which originated in Italy and reached its apogee there in the 16th and 17th centuries. The story of the Harlequinade revolves around a comic incident in the lives of its five main characters: Harlequin, who loves Columbine; Columbine's greedy and foolish father Pantaloon, who tries to separate the lovers in league with the mischievous Clown; and the servant, Pierrot, usually involving chaotic chase scenes with a bumbling policeman.
Pantomime is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and in other English-speaking countries, especially during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It generally combines gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is encouraged and expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.
Bouffon is a modern French theater term to describe a specific style of performance work that has a main focus in the art of mockery. It was re-coined in the early 1960s by Jacques Lecoq at his L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris
Chaos League is a 2004 fantasy-based sports management game developed by Cyanide Studios and published by Digital Jesters. The game is a spin on American football, the violence of the Medieval football with no rules and rugby-style of sports yet set in a fantasy world with teams being made up of fantasy races such as dwarves, elves, orcs and undead, along with the use of magic and other fictional elements during a "match". The tone of the game is satirical with comedic color commentary and adverts for fictional in-game universe products. An official expansion was later released in 2005 bundled with the original, titled Chaos League: Sudden Death that added new features and gameplay tweaks.
Daniel Sylvester Battagline, also known as Sylvester The Jester, is an American magician, best known for playing a cartoon character who comes to life. He has had hundreds of stage and television appearances, including NBC’s "World's Wildest Magic," ABC’s "Champions of Magic III", Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy Telethon and The Discovery Channel’s "More Science of Magic." He has performed in multiple Las Vegas shows including opening for The Amazing Johnathan, and appearing at Caesar’s Magical Empire. He also produces a series of magic products, and has been credited with creating the illustrations for various magic publications, such as the cover for The Amazing Johnathan's Every Trick in the Book, and the poster for John Carney's "Mr. Mysto" act. In 1996, he also created a prop for the television show, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." He has been featured on the cover of several magic and culture-related magazines, such as the September 1998 issue of Magic.
The Shakespearean fool is a recurring character type in the works of William Shakespeare.
The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre is a private school in Blue Lake, California. It offers summer workshops, and a study abroad program in Bali. The school also has a professional company in residence, the Dell'Arte Company.
Scott & Muriel is the stage name of the comedy duo Scott Nelson and Muriel Brugman, a husband and wife team of comedy illusionists and entertainers. Their style of performance can best be described as "slapstick magic," a combination of visual comedy, slapstick, modern clowning, and illusions.
All's Faire in Love is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Scott Marshall and written by R. A. White and Jeffrey Ray Wine. The film stars Owen Benjamin as Will, a college student who is assigned to work at a renaissance fair by his professor after missing several classes, and Christina Ricci as Kate, an investment banker who leaves her job to work at the fair.
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: In Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses which engender dramatic irony, which provokes laughter.
Boleslav Polívka is a Czech film and theatre actor, mime, playwright, and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 40 films.
Avner Eisenberg "Avner the Eccentric" is an American vaudeville performer, clown, mime, juggler, and sleight of hand magician. John Simon described him in 1984 as "A clown for the thinking man and the most exacting child."
Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as commedia alla maschera, commedia improvviso, and commedia dell'arte all'improvviso. Characterized by masked "types", commedia was responsible for the rise of actresses such as Isabella Andreini and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. A commedia, such as The Tooth Puller, is both scripted and improvised. Characters' entrances and exits are scripted. A special characteristic of commedia is the lazzo, a joke or "something foolish or witty", usually well known to the performers and to some extent a scripted routine. Another characteristic of commedia is pantomime, which is mostly used by the character Arlecchino, now better known as Harlequin.
Daniel Warr, also known as Mon Oncle le bossu or DADO, is a Canadian street performer, magician and clown. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood, California, was a 99-seat theater which was developed by founding artistic director Amit Itelman. Moved to The Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater.
Joan Mankin (May 16, 1948 – September 26, 2015] was an actor and clown prominent in the San Francisco Bay Area, from the early 1970s through 2014. Mankin started her professional career in San Francisco in 1970 with a production of the San Francisco Mime Troupe's An Independent Female. Thereafter, she appeared in major roles in many Bay Area theater companies including the American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Playhouse and California Shakespeare Theatre as well as the feminist Lilith Theater in the late 1970s early 1980s, of which she was Artistic Director for two years. In 2006 she had a major singing role in the Los Angeles Ahmanson Theatre's production of The Black Rider: The Casting of Magic Bullets.
References
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- ↑ "Snyder, Gail. "Making Mischief," Local Flavor Magazine, 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ↑ "Perdue, Beth. "'ZOObilation!' will give everyone a reason to smile," Southcoast Today, 2003". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ↑ Coe, Jennifer. "Alex the Jester performance caps off summer reading program," ReminderNews, Aug 2008. [ permanent dead link ]
- ↑ "Ackerman, Meghann. "Somerville clown taking act to Russia," Wicked Local Somerville, Oct 21, 2009". Archived from the original on 2009-12-20. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ↑ "Werman, Marco. "Alex the Jester," WGBH/PRI/BBC's The World, November 17, 2009". Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ↑ "Bergeron, Chris. "Playing the Fool," Milford Mass Daily News, 2005". Archived from the original on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
- ↑ Domínguez, Miguel, "Alex the Jester, a Medieval Diversion," Milenio.com, October 20, 2008 (in Spanish). [ permanent dead link ]
- ↑ "Feldman, Alexander. "Really Young Unicyclists" (Video) MetaCafe.com, October, 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ↑ "Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater, "What Graduates Are Doing?" dellarte.com". Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ↑ "Britt, Chris. "Interview with Alexander, King of Jesters," Magic Interviews.net, 2007". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
- ↑ "Wolf, Eric. "Connecting Quickly through Physicality" (Audio), The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf, 2008". 25 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2009-10-15.