Clowning in the Brechtian Tradition Daniel Neil Bye Submittedin accordancewith the requirementsfor the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy University of Leeds, School of Performanceand Cultural Industries January 2008 The candidateconfirms that the work submittedis his own work and that appropriate credit hasbeen given wherereference has been made to the work of others This copy hasbeen supplied on the understandingthat it is copyright material and that no quotationfrom the thesismay be publishedwithout proper acknowledgement. 1 Acknowledgements Special thanks must first of all go to my supervisors in this research, first Richard Boon and subsequently,jointly, Sita Popat and Kara McKechnie. I'd also like to thank ProfessorsJonathan Pitches and Chris McCullough for their very valuablefeedback. The ResearchDegrees and ScholarshipsOffice at the University provided me with a bursarywithout which the researchcould not have beenundertaken. John Wright and Philippe Gaulier taught me more than it is reasonable to expect to learn in such a short space of time. They showed me what clowning is and can be. I would like to thank all of thosewho were involved in my production of Mr Puntila and His Man, Matti (discussedin ChapterFour), without whom this researchwould remain between pages when it was meant for stages: Jamie Blair, Bobby Brook, Gillian Bryan, Ben Cutler, Charlie Dodd, Amy Draper, Joanna Fleck, Andrew Hogan, Rebecca Morris, Will Railton, Claire Riley, Rich Wall and Paul Whickman. And my huge respect,affection and thanks go to my colleaguesat StrangeBedfellows (discussedin ChapterFive), Nick Jesperand Paul Mundell. Finally, I would like to thank my wife SarahPunshon, not only for proofreading,but also for putting up with me while I've been writing this thesis.Any errors that remain are, of course,my own. 2 Abstract: Clowning in the Brechtian Tradition This thesis examines how far clowning can be used to augment the aims and effects of a Brechtian theatricality. To do so, it first establishesa series of characteristic processesfor the identification and analysis of clowning, based on the author's own clown training with John Wright and Philippe Gaulier. It then explores the nature of Brecht's interest in the clowns Charlie Chaplin and Karl Valentin and their influence on his thinking. Next, it examines how far Brecht's interest in clowns and clowning can be seen inscribed in the texts of his plays and how far that clowning enables the aims of his theatre to be realised. Then it looks at a specific example of Brecht production, the author's production of Mr Puntila and His Man Matti, to examine how far what has been seen in theory in fact works in practice. And finally, it moves beyond Brecht but remains in the Brechtian tradition, by examining the show Can of Worms, directed by the author for Strange Bedfellows theatre company and asking how far a pure clown show can achieve Brechtian effects. Throughout, the thesis is concernedto establish how far the specific incidences of clowning examined accord with particular effects of the Brechtian theatre, most significantly Gestus,dialectics and the Verfremdungseffekt.It concludesthat clowning is a form particularly well suitedto the pursuit of theseprocesses. 3 Table of Contents Chapter Page Title Page 1 Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 INTRODUCTION 8 i. Key Research Questions and General Overview - what is a tradition? 8 ii. Literature Review and Detailed Overview 11 iii. Methodological Statement 20 iv. Brecht and Clowning 23 v. TheVerfremdungseffekt 24 vi. The Epic Theatre and the Role of Pathos 27 vii. Gestus 30 viii. The Aims of this Thesis 33 CHA PTER ONE: WHAT IS CLOWNING? 34 i. Introduction 34 ii. Bafflement 36 iii. Gameplay 39 iv. Debunking and Improvisation 44 v. TheFlop 46 vi. Wright's Clowning and Gaulier's Clowning 49 vii. Vulnerability and the Joy of Being Present 50 viii. Earnestness and Optimism 53 ix. The Drop 54 X. Finding One's Own Clown, and Costume 55 4 58 xi. Status and Boss Clown 62 xii. Pathetic Clowns and Tragic Clowns 64 xiii. Conclusion CHAPTER TWO: BRECHT'S CLOWN INFLUENCES 70 Part One: Karl Valentin 71 i. Brecht's Relationship with Valentin 71 ii. What is the Nature of Valentin's Clowning? 74 iii. How Political is Valentin's Clowning? 80 iv. Conclusion 84 Part Two: Charlie Chaplin 85 i. Introduction 85 ii. Brecht's early Chaplin references 88 iii. The Gold Rush 93 iv. City Lights 108 v. Later References 120 Conclusion 124 CHAPTER THREE: CLOWNING IN BRECHT'S PLAYTEXTS 126 Introduction 126 Part One: A Man's a Man 129 i. 129 ii. 135 M. 138 iv. 140 v. 143 vi. 149 Part Two: The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent 151 Part Three: The Resistible Rise ofArturo Ui 161 i. 161 5 ii. 165 167 iv. 171 173 v. 175 vi. Part Four: Mother Courage and Her Children 178 Conclusion 188 CHAPTER FOUR: BRECHT'S CLOWNS IN PRODUCTION - MR PUNTILA AND HIS MAN, MA TTI 190 i. Introduction 190 ii. Framing the production: framing the Verfremdungseffekt 192 iii. Thefirst scene and the rehearsal process: finding the game; finding the Gest 198 iv. The second and third scenes: Improvisation,flop, Verfremdungseffekt 203 v. Exploring challenging laughter 206 vi. For whom do wefeel sympathy? 207 vii. Conclusion 211 OF CHAPTER FIVE: CLOWNING IN THE BRECHTIAN TRADITION - CAN WORMS 212 i. Introduction - the Brechtian tradition today 212 ii. Thefounding of StrangeBedfellows and the aims of Can of Worms 215 iii. Analysis of 473 218 iv. Analysis of Civil Servants 227 v. Conclusion: is this a Brechtian piece? 231 CONCLUSION 234 i. Overview of researchfindings 234 6 ii. Refining an understanding of Gestus 236 iii. Outlook 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY 240 MP4 APPENDIX - CAN OF WORMS on accompanying CD INTRODUCTION "? i. Key Research Questions and General Overview - What is a "tradition In order to establish the key questions explored in this thesis it will be useful to unpack some of the terminology used in its title, Clowning in the Brechtian Tradition. What do we mean by that phrase? None of its components, "clowning", `Brechtian", or even "tradition" are susceptible to unproblematic definition, so it will be part of the task of this Introduction to attempt an account of how each will be used and developed. None of them will remain stable throughout the thesis, but we can at least trace the major controversies surrounding each, in order that we might arrive at a useful starting point. Of these three, "tradition" might appear the least problematic, denoting an accumulation influence development field of and within a particular field - in the case of this thesis, the of Brechtian theatre. Unfortunately it is not quite so simple. Raymond Williams, in his book Keywords, ascribes four sensesto the Latin root of the word: "delivery", "handing ' down knowledge", "passing on a doctrine" and "surrender or betrayal". The fourth of these should make it clear that the accumulations of influence and development that constitute the processes of tradition are by no means simple and deferential. Williams observes that the conventional use of the word contains "a very strong and often 2 predominant sense of respect and duty", but nonetheless the development of one aspect of a tradition must very often entail the surrender or even the betrayal of some other aspect. For example, we shall see that Brecht inherited, in the form of influence, several aspects of a clowning tradition from Charlie Chaplin and from Karl Valentin. He then turned them to his own ends, arguably resulting in the surrender or betrayal of some of their key aspects. Does this mean these practices are no longer clowning? No longer traditional clowning? Or does it simply mean that traditions are plural and unstable, even despite the word's apparent sense of the orderly and the stable? This thesis will proceed on the latter assumption, that tradition is not a straightforward handing-down or a linear 1 Raymond Williams, Keywords (London: Fontana, 1983), pp. 318-9 2 Ibid, p. 319 8 progress, but rather a dialectical tussle much in the manner, as we shall see, of some of the processesengaged in Brecht's theatre. The title places "the Brechtian tradition" alongside "clowning" as the twin foci of the thesis. We may therefore usefully go on to note that clowning is by no means a stable entity to be placed alongside a constantly mutating tradition of Brechtian theory and but is itself "clowns practice, a tradition - or even many traditions. Dario Fo observes, 3 can be found at all times and in all countries". Such a widespread phenomenon cannot be easily contained by one tradition. This thesis therefore focuses on one clown tradition - the contemporary European clowning taught by JacquesLecoq, John Wright and Philippe Gaulier, among others. With a view to the cultural pervasivenessof clowning, however, it shall be noted that many of the aspects of clowning we examine in this tradition have corollaries in others. Thus it becomes immediately clear that this thesis is concerned with not one tradition, but two, running in parallel and occasionally intersecting. The principal concern of this thesis is those points of intersection. Could the title then not equally easily have been "Brecht in the Clowning Tradition"? It could not. That the thesis bears its present title is due to its primary focus, which is on how clowning can be used as a means to achieve the Brechtian perceived ends of a theatre - rather than on how Brecht's theories can be used as a means to achieve the ends of clowning - whatever they may be. Nonetheless we must keep sight of the fact that the clowning tradition is as varied as the Brechtian tradition - given its longer history, perhaps even more so.