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Bouffon

I’ve been invited all around the world to teach Bouffon workshops but most people have no idea what Bouffon is. 

In short, Bouffon deals with the Grotesque and the Outcast in comedy and tragedy. it’s a genre of training for actors and is often referred to as the dark cousin of Clown. 

But lately, I say to those people who still look back at me with blank faces when I try to describe it as such, think of an Andy Kaufman number mashed up with The Bacchae or Monte Python mixed up with Richard III. Imagine the Bible, for instance, presented in the context of one of London’s more risqué cabaret events. Then give it the atmosphere of the Tultepec Pyrotechnic festival in Mexico or La Tomatina in Spain or simply the underlying energy of a hysterical laughing attack and you are somewhere in the vicinity of Bouffon. Tis naughtiness incarnate!

I was introduced to the mad world of Buffoonery in 2009 by the magnificent and thoroughly mischievous Philippe Gaulier (to date the global authority on Bouffon). I loved it! It seemed to incorporate the best Gaulier had to offer us with his anarchic vision for the Theatre, the invitation to be outrageous, to go to the limits but most of all, Bouffon contained the essence of what our teacher was all about; the undisputed power of Play. 

After many years of trial and error, I'm now teaching around the world and continue to discover the rich potential of this work to bring new freedom, charisma and joy to artists. More than any other genre, Bouffon demands direct contact and magnetic complicity – performer to audience. The craft of Parody in its most extreme and subtle forms and the ability to intelligently attack the status quo without alienating oneself are all helpful tools for a performing artist. 

Working with such a heightened physical awareness and expression, as well as the size and energy required for Bouffon to work, provides any artist with a beautiful challenge to find something absolutely outside the realms of what they know.
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"I had so much fun creating my body mask in Jaime's workshop. It was a complete transformation and I didn't recognise myself in the mirror once I was done. Jaime expertly paced the workshop. We experimented as an ensemble and I was surprised how willing, disinhibited and lively the groups were while working together. Jaime created an atmosphere where performers felt comfortable to push themselves in all directions and to delve into the madness and extremes of the Bouffon"
Annie Bashford - Actress, Theatre Maker London
Buffoon Masterclass or Intensive - Mischief with a body mask
An intensive, fun and liberating workshop for students & teachers of theatre as well as professional actors and performers interested in broadening their repertoire and discovering something new on stage.
Over 12 hours I introduce participants to the basic principles of:
  • Playfulness and the game
  • Complicity and chorus work
  • Contact with the audience
  • Body mask and the liberating power of disguise
  • The levels of Parody ranging from Pastiche to the Grotesque.
  • Devising using Bouffon
Participants will be encouraged to push the limits of what is possible/acceptable, to play lightly with the unpredictable madness that they contain and to discover what it is to be in a 'real' connection with the audience. In exploring Bouffon and the techniques that underlie it, actors can come into contact with a new physical presence and power on stage.

Liberate your ‘bad actor’ as well as the energy in the room as we celebrate mockery, mischief and mayhem.
In This workshop expect to:
  • use play as a basis of lightness and childlike or naughty pleasure
  • build complicity in chorus and with the audience
  • find pleasure in Parody itself.
  • have an experience of the freedom born from disguise (the power of a body mask)
  • experience Buffoon in chorus and the dynamics of rhythm
  • test the limits of how far you can go. Find your freedom