Luni TV – the Expandable Show
In the 90’s Loonisee played with the hope for peace, health and the premise of environmental change.
Although clowning calls on archetypes, the type and style of clowning changes according to the time, place and audience. When I reflect on these shows, they were very much a part of the time and were focused on issues that were in the news, using language that was appropriate to the decade.
Luni TV – Our Environmental Fringe Show
This show became our participatory show that we did in all sorts of public venues. We would include different skits according to the amount of time that we had on stage. One bit that Pierrot would do between skits was go to the mic and try to introduce the next part. Of course, she couldn’t speak and she would have a great deal of trouble by getting tangled in the mic. Mister would come and get tangled too, and then announce the next bit.
One song that I loved to mime to was “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon.” I think it’s from Sesame Street. Pierrot mimes the animals in the song and that deep yearning to disappear far above, but to be grateful for having her feet on the ground. Now it feels like I go to the moon on my cell phone or computer. Sometimes it’s hard to come back.
Another bit from that show was about Acid Rain which was in the news at that time. We played that we were a forest and gradually died as the rain came down. It was a serious reminder but still funny when you have clowns falling down around the stage.
Another scene was where Pierrot decides to reuse some bigger foam boxes that were used for transporting grapes and create chairs and a table for an imaginary tea party. Pierrot keeps inviting Mister to the tea party but when he sits on the box it falls over and he gets angry and frustrated, so he takes the box and gives it to the audience to get rid of it. Pierrot rescues the box and sets up her tea party again and repeat. Mister was a physical, sometimes acrobatic clown, so the struggles between Pierrot and Mister became physical comedy. We performed this at the Brandon Folk Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe and the St. Vital Mall. I remember the audiences being very supportive to Pierrot and discouraging to Mister.
Then there was the Recycling Machine. In a curling rink of close to five hundred students from schools in rural Manitoba, we set an assembly line of adults and clowns spread out, holding hands. The students needed to be recycled so they would wind through the adults. Some adults would join hands to create bins so the students would go through their arms and around to the next adult. When the students were back in the audience they started chanting, “Teachers! Teachers!” Remember there were quite a few people there! The teachers eventually came up and were recycled as well. I think we were all amazed and a little bit frightened at the energy the clowning performance released.
It all ended well and happy, animated students headed with their tired looking teachers to the school buses to go back to their rural Manitoba towns.
Popcorn Philosophy
Philosophy of Clown by Jan Henderson
In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found the clown to be the best, all-encompassing metaphor for the human condition - an uncompromising mirror to look into for glimpses of the truth. We look at the clown and see ourselves - our hopes, dreams, fears, and virtues, our flaws and our process. Clowns show us how, as a species, we get into trouble - without ever meaning to - and how we stumble onto sublime solutions to our problems. The Fool has eyes to see, and heart to recognize.
Clowning isn't something we need to learn so much as something we become aware of in ourselves. Any time that we are curious, playful, or creative, we are in clown mode. When we are in a state of wonder or awe, surprise or amazement, we are in clown. Whenever we have hunches, act on impulse, or digress - we are in clown. Whenever we have strong emotions, we are in clown. The clown lives in the place of laughing and crying at the same time.
The art of clowning involves much more than the slapstick and oversized shoes of the traditional circus clown. The character of The Fool is an essential ingredient of human society - a universal archetype found in some form in all cultures and in all times. The Clown is the "puer/puella aeternae", the eternal child in all of us - the innocent who sees things as they really are and not as convention decrees, who can be counted on to tell us, in the loudest possible voice, that the emperor's not wearing any clothes. It is the part of us that has never grown up, that lives in the heart and in the moment, with no past to regret and no future to dread - the part that only wants to play, completely free of responsibility - and yet is willing and able to save the world if necessary.
The clown takes everything literally and personally, questioning everything under the sun except itself, blithely flaunting the egg on its face and the heart on its sleeve. With the best of intentions and no thought of failure, it leaps naively into danger - getting knocked down over and over - but never failing to get up and try again. It is an embodiment of hope in the face of hopelessness, and possibility in the face of the impossible. It blissfully ignores the obvious and somehow convinces us of the wisdom of folly, and if, as I suspect, we are here to bear witness to the universe, the clown aspect of ourselves provides the best colour commentary.
Clowning is about the freedom that comes from a state of total, unconditional acceptance of our most authentic selves, warts and all. It offers us respite from our self-doubts and fears, and opens the door to joy. And the best part is, we are all already our clowns. They are here inside us, waiting for us to recognize them so that they can come out and play.
© Jan Henderson, Fool Moon Productions
Odds & Ends
I don’t think that any of us in Loonisee had any clown training except Lynn. We met in a commedia dell’arte class and took it from there. Back then, there really wasn’t much clown training available. Most of us just jumped in and sank or swam. Well, if we were sinking, we tried to pull each other out. The audiences were very forgiving. The critics not so much.