Wednesday, October 29, 2008

It takes someone supremely clever to seem supremely silly




This guy is probably an acquired taste, but it takes a hell of a lot of talent to appear that hopeless that effortlessly.
It may sound corny, but i think this is something all of us performers could aspire to. To be that effortless on stage is a gift.
That said, one of the most important things in life is not to take oneself too seriously, especially as performers. The best artists are those that can step back and just have a good laugh at themselves, and not view themselves as gods gift to man kind.

I hope to be like that one day.


But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

I think that it takes a certain kind of genius to be a clown. True there are the horrendous clowns who you just want to go away, but that isn't the laugh of humour. That is the nervous knee jerk laugh as (in the most extreme cases) a reaction to pain.

A Genius clown, however, makes us laugh, not for being stupid, but for mirroring ourselves. It is the genius of a clown (or Pierrot or Punch or Harlequin or Fool or Shakespeare's Porter) that they can encapsulate humanity in a way that transcends time.

I think that it takes as much genius to do this as to get a plane off the ground or to invent the telephone. It certainly uses the same ingredients as Edison's favourite method:

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% Perspiration
Thomas Alva Edison
A genius performer works as hard as anyone else to show us our world, and they do so eight nights a week. They may have spent their entire life honing their craft, and their efforts still ring true after many many years. Take for example Harry Houdini, William Kemp, Grimauldi, and my personal idol, Charlie Chaplin. a century has passed and we can still completely engage with their works. This is genius.

And it is a genius we all can aspire to


Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
Brendan Gill

Friday, October 10, 2008

Shakespeare Summarised

Here is a not quite comprehesnsive list of shakespeares plays. Followed by a brief summary or pertinent point. Accuracy not Guaranteed. No money returned.

Romeo & Juliet

Teen Pregnancy boosts the Italian tourist industry. And the balcony construction industry. And the modern mafia

A Midsummer’s Nights Dream

Homeless people on drugs. Has a man named bottom. He turns into an Ass.

Macbeth

Warning: This play is unsuitable for minors as it glamorises knife crime. Contains the first Knock Knock joke. It isn’t very funny.

Hamlet

Prince Harry in ten years time, complete with the unorthodox fashion sense.

Julius Caesar

A towering indictment of antisemitism in a totalitarian regime.

Cymbeline

Bloody Foreigners

Taming of the Shrew

Bloody Women

Comedy of Errors

Brith Birth-control failures causes much stupidyti idiyoc hilarity.

Anthony and Cleopatra

Dance like an Egyptian. Just do it.

The Tempest

Meteorology gone mad.

Henry VI part 1 2 and 3

Elizabethan Star Wars. Episodes 5,6 and 7 are now lost. Or the Wagner's Ring Cycle, depending on your educational background.

Othello

‘Is it becoz I iz black?’ Mostly.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

See Julius Caesar.

As You Like It

All the worlds a stage. And all the men and women merely players. But none of them know any of the other lines except that speech. Makes for a boring (if short) performance. Also, where does the audience sit?

Loves Labours Lost

Ironically, this one is not lost, while Loves Labours Won is. If only that were as funny as it could be.

King Lear

Proudly providing job opportunities for mad old men since 1605

Coriolanus

The bit next to the Coriorectum. Man I’m funny.

Much Ado about Nothing

I’m rapidly running out of good material. Better pad it out with some bad puns.

All’s well that ends well

Stuff it, I’m out of here.


Well, that ends my first blog post. Leave a comment, or a summary of any other work. I'll post the best ones at a later date. Maybe.

Don't bother telling me how unfunny I am. I know.

Roman