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Feminist Clowning: Serious Pleasures and Strategic Possibilities

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Feminist Clowning: Serious Pleasures and Strategic Possibilities University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020-07-03 Feminist Clowning: Serious Pleasures and Strategic Possibilities Russell, Jacqueline Russell, J. (2020). Feminist Clowning: Serious Pleasures and Strategic Possibilities (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112320 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Feminist Clowning: Serious Pleasures and Strategic Possibilities by Jacqueline Russell A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN DRAMA CALGARY, ALBERTA JULY, 2020 © Jacqueline Russell 2020 Abstract This thesis is an investigation into the intersection of clown practice and feminist theory. I consider the work of historical and contemporary female clowns and the strategies they use to playfully break rules that restrict and oppress. Through analysis of the ways in which these clowns reconfigure traditional clowning strategies for feminist aims, my research discusses the pleasures and possibilities of a feminist clowning practice. By scrutinising the current literature about clown history and performance, I attempt to fill some of the gaps in this field of scholarly study, writing about the history and practice of feminist clowning and centralizing the voices of other female clowns/scholars. Aiming to address the erasure of women in clowning history, I document my process to revive proto-feminist clowns Cha-u-ka-o and Evetta Mathews, and my Practice as Research experiment, Bridge of Jests, that situates myself in a lineage of feminist clown ancestors. Drawing on interviews with contemporary Canadian clowns Karen Hines, Heather Marie Annis, Amy Lee, Candice Roberts, and Michelle Thrush, I consider the innovative ways that these clowns are harnessing the power of laughter to interact with serious, political content. I discuss the challenges and surprises that emerged from my efforts to develop a feminist clown working methodology during my Practice as Research experiment Allergic to Water. In this thesis I endeavour to draw connections between ways of thinking about feminism and the embodied practice of clown, to discover what emerges as feminist clowning in this interplay between theory and practice. ii Preface This thesis is original, independent work by the author, Jacqueline Russell. The research interviews included in Chapters 2-3 were covered by Ethics Certificate REB19-0280, issued by the University of Calgary Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board (CFREB) for the study “Interviews with Contemporary Canadian Clowns” on July 18, 2019. Portions of the text in Chapter 3 have been published as “A Clown of His/Her/Their Own: Clown and Gender Performativity.” Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 183, 2020, pp. 62-66. iii Acknowledgements With gratitude I acknowledge my family, particularly my ever-patient husband, Adam Toy, for his constant support during my graduate degree and my sister, Mariah Russell, for keeping my sense of perspective intact. Immense thanks to all my clown teachers for teaching me to follow my impulses and think with my blood, especially John Turner, Michael Kennard and Karen Hines. I am infinitely grateful for the vital comradery and rowdy laughter of my grad school cohort that sustained me throughout this process. Thank you also to my clown co- conspirators of the past decade: Alissa Watson, Alice Nelson, Michelle Brandenburg, Chris Gamble and Chad Bryant. And deep thanks to my clown partner, Jed Tomlinson, for teaching me how to care enough not to care. This research would not have been possible without the generosity of the clowns I interviewed: Karen Hines, Heather Marie Annis, Amy Lee, Candice Roberts and Michelle Thrush. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and insights with me. Thank you to Julia Lane for forging a path that other clown/scholars could follow and your thoughtful support of my research trip. Special thanks to April Viczko and The School of Creative and Performing Arts for their support of my Practice as Research projects and to my creative collaborators Ethan Mitchell, Lindsey Zess and Jeremy Gignoux for their tremendous talents and willingness to dive into the world of clown. I would like to thank my thesis supervisors, Penny Farfan and Valerie Campbell, for their ongoing guidance, mentorship and encouragement. In particular, my thanks to Penny for challenging me to sharpen my abilities to think and write like a feminist, and to Val for reminding me to let myself know what I know. iv Table of Contents Abstract _____________________________________________________________________ ii Preface _____________________________________________________________________ iii Acknowledgements ____________________________________________________________ iv Table of Contents ______________________________________________________________ v List of Figures ________________________________________________________________ vi Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 3 Liminal – The Magic Space __________________________________________________________ 5 Critical – Clown Logic ______________________________________________________________ 6 Playful – Get Yourself Off ___________________________________________________________ 7 A Brief History of Feminist Clown ____________________________________________________ 9 Research Methodology _____________________________________________________________ 10 Theatre Clown ____________________________________________________________________ 11 Clown Training ___________________________________________________________________ 12 The Rules _______________________________________________________________________ 13 Clown Ways of Knowing ___________________________________________________________ 15 A Note about Pronouns _____________________________________________________________ 17 Chapter One: Laughter is the Bridge: Searching for my Clown Ancestors ________________ 18 Cha-u-ka-o ______________________________________________________________________ 19 Evetta Mathews ___________________________________________________________________ 26 Bridge of Jests ____________________________________________________________________ 32 Chapter Two: Poison-Tipped Arrows: The Personal Clown is Political __________________ 42 Pochsy’s Lips ____________________________________________________________________ 46 Oh, baby! ________________________________________________________________________ 49 CitiZen Pochsy ___________________________________________________________________ 53 Chapter Three: Soccer-Baseball, Head Banging and Lip Syncing: The Seriousness of Pleasure 61 Morro and Jasp Do Puberty _________________________________________________________ 62 Larry ___________________________________________________________________________ 68 Inner Elder ______________________________________________________________________ 74 Chapter Four: Breaking the Rules: The Feminist Clown as Creator _____________________ 84 Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ 99 Works Cited ________________________________________________________________ 104 v List of Figures Figure 1. The Clown Rules. ____________________________________________________________ 14 Figure 2. Cluster. Images and desires of myself as the ultimate transgression. ____________________ 16 Figure 3. The Seated Clowness (Mademoiselle Cha-u-ka-o). Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896. ______ 20 Figure 4. Chocolat Dancing In Bar Darchille. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896. _________________ 22 Figure 5. La Clownesse Cha-u-ka-o at the Moulin Rouge. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895. ________ 23 Figure 6. JosePh Grimaldi. Date & Artist Unknown. ________________________________________ 24 Figure 7. Lulu, Roman clownesque. Felicien Champsaur, 1900. _______________________________ 25 Figure 8. The Strobridge LithograPhing Company, American, 1867 – 1960. _____________________ 27 Figure 9. The Strobridge LithograPhing Company, American, 1867 – 1960 ______________________ 29 Figure 10. Evetta the Lady Clown, PhotograPhed by Emil Constant Puyo, circa 1895. _____________ 30 Figure 11. Evetta the Lady Clown, PhotograPhed by Emil Constant Puyo, circa 1895. _____________ 31 Figure 12. Ethan Mitchell and Jacqueline Russell in Bridge of Jests. 2019. ______________________ 34 Figure 13. Ethan Mitchell and Jacqueline Russell in Bridge of Jests. 2019. ______________________ 35 Figure 14. Terracotta Baubo figurine from Priene. Date unknown. ____________________________ 36 Figure 15. Jacqueline Russell in Bridge of Jests. 2019. ______________________________________ 41 Figure 16. Karen Hines in Pochsy’s LiPs. 1992. ___________________________________________ 47 Figure 17. Karen Hines in Oh, baby! 1993. _______________________________________________ 50 Figure 18. Karen Hines in Citizen Pochsy. 2003. ___________________________________________ 54 Figure 19. The Talentless Lumps. Photo by Leif Norman. 2017. _______________________________
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