The Art of Fall
& Other Stupidities
Destabilizing
PHYSICAL COMEDY
SLAPSTICK
THE
« L'arroseur arrosé » des Frères Lumière (1896)
Vaudeville des années 1900
THE SLAPSTICK?
THE ORIGINS
The accident play and visual gag are intimately linked to burlesque cinema.
Besides, cinema, from its birth, tried to make people laugh with an accident in the famous film
«The sprinkler sprinkled» by the Lumière brothers. However, this was not the start of the great adventure!
Richard Boston, in his book «Anatomy of laughter», rightly wrote:
«During the silent era, the forerunners of comedies were music hall performers,
clowns and circus acrobats. The great comedians of the golden age arrived with this background
in the cinema, having refined their techniques and their comic character
on the boards of music halls or vaudeville theaters. Max Linder made his theater debut in Bordeaux;
Fatty Arbuckle began performing at fairgrounds and vaudeville theaters.
Chaplin studied in the English pantomime troupe of Fred Karno and became the star
before discovering America. Stan Laurel, at that time became the lining of Charlie Chaplin;
Buster Keaton was propelled by his parents from the age of five on a vaudeville scene;
Harry Langdon was a circus acrobat before being spotted by Mack Sennett.
Harold Lloyd began by playing small roles in a theater company
and W.C. Fields juggled bricks, before juggling cinema with words.
The Marx Brothers, a musical group, made many flaws in the vaudeville theaters
before discovering that they had an interest in insulting the public preventively,
rather than letting them take the offensive. When these artists appeared
in front of a camera lens, they had a directory of ready-made numbers.»
© Stage à Shanghai en Chine
© Stage au Samovar
© Stage à Shanghai en Chine
© Stage à Bruxelles en Belgique
© Photo Yves Kerstlus - Kino Kabaret à Bruxelles
THE WORKSHOPS?
THE HAPPY GRAVITY
The workshops focus on physical humor, visual gag and slapstick stunts
that cause the body to experience, what I call, the «Happy Gravity».
Slide, miss, slip, stumble, hang on, tangle, fall, bump, dodge,
slap, hit, … Fights, bickering, bowls, blows, …
The repertory of «physical gags», from which silent film actors
drew all kinds of ideas is approached as a technical reference base
and through this pedagogy of blunder and bad luck, my challenge is to reveal
the awkward fantasy and the talent for the absurd of each and all of humanity that flows from it.
The accident on the course, the disaster, the stupid gesture, bad luck are a great playground.
The expression «split your face» is therefore used both literally and figuratively!
This, without losing sight of the fact that «Being comic is a very serious subject» (Groucho Marx)
THE OBJECTIVES
→ Play with the human condition faced with gravity in every sense of the word.
→ Highlight the universality of failure and glorify awkwardness.
→ Develop his clumsy skill and his blundering virtuosity.
→ Discover, explore and assimilate all catastrophic actions with different supports,
in different situations, rhythms, states and put them at the service of the game.
→ Tame all forms of obstacles and make them a shock partner.
→ Learn and get a taste for falling and beating.
→ Acquire the work of conviction, reaction and reconstruction related to the accident
as a fertile ground for play and character development.
→ Being in the «making positive risk» that is to say, calculated but still fun.
→ Become autonomous to train, create, rehearse and play a routine
and to give this technique to the character.
THE PLANNING
PHYSICAL PREPARATION
The courses begin with a warm-up in accordance with the physical capabilities of each.
It gradually prepares the body for effort and makes it available for play.
It also promotes concentration, recovery and prevents injuries.
Next are the exercises specific to the practice of the accident.
They improve physical qualities and prepare for physical risk taking.
Finally, a purely playful time completes this preparation.
As a duo, trio or group, games are a good way to wake up your «silly player»
and interact with others.
ACCIDENT TECHNIQUES
Accidents are first broken down then explored and finally repeated
in the form of choreographed movements in order to obtain a certain ease.
They are then put into situation in the form of short sketches.
The emphasis is then placed on control, adjustment and gestural precision.
GAME TECHNIQUES
Once the technique has been assimilated, it's time for improvisation and the importance of working on,
among others, sincerity, conviction, timing, states and reactions.
Indeed, the success of an «accidental gag» is not conditioned only by action
(the technical execution of the accident) but also in the way of bringing it
and in its consequences on the character and the situation, that is to say the game.
This step gives space to the character.
It therefore highlights the individual fantasy.