Nov_Dec_1998

November/December , 1998
Biographies? ~
Bah, humbug!
By David "Mr. Rainbow" Bartlett
4129 Livingston Pl.
Durham, NC 27707
I occasionally do clown coaching sessions. During
these sessions an individual (or occasiona lly a small group)
and I try to break through barriers and problems preventing
them from develop ing into effective comic performers.
Somet imes we discuss skills and techniques, sometimes
routines, sometimes marketing, sometimes character
development, sometimes philosophy, and often
combina tions of these . We try to identify the problems and
talk over possib le solut ions.
One such session led to a common practice that is
often misused in its application in clown education.
The lady told me that she had a real problem dealing
with adults when in character . She said she didn't feel
comfortable even talking to adults and that this was a big
problem for her going into people's homes and having to
have any dealings with the parents and other adults during
the parties.
As we talked, I asked her to describe her character. This
question she was prepared for, and she went into a
comp lete biography . Part of this biography included the
age of her characte r, six years old. I asked more about this
and she started talking about the research she had done to
really know what the six-year-old was like. She was trying
her best to be true to the age of her character.
I asked why she even picked an age. She really didn't
have an answer for that, other than to say that the person
who originally trained her made her write out a complete
character biography, includ ing age.
---------, but really looking into her self. She
finally said, "I feel like you have lifted a
boulder off my heart." The intensity
and sincerity of her response caught
me off guard and I made a mental
note to myself to really examine this
moment.
People trying to get into clowning
most often turn to those who have
gone before them for instruction and
guidance. These instructors are really
only able to teach what they
themselves know , even if that
knowledge is sketchy or incomplete.
They often teach in the exact way
that they were taught. This is how
bad ideas and bad practices get
perpetuated to the point of near
binding common law. If an educational tool is misused once,
it will more than likely be misused again and again.
The misused educational tool in this case is the writing
of character biographies. It is easy to point out now that the
lady should not have held on so tightly to her biography.
She was trying her best to make everything she did try to fit
through the narrow confines of something she wrote when
she was very new and essentially clueless. This is a clear
recipe for failure.
I'm glad I was able to talk to her before she just quit
altogether.
The writing of character biographies is a very effective
theatrical tool that really doesn't apply to clowning and
especially beginning clown ing. Without delving too far into
theatr ical philosophy and jargon, here is what a character
biography is used for.
An actor, given a theatrical role, is absolutely tied to the
script and to the director's interpretations. The actor has to
reconcile, at least in his or her own mind, why their character
says or does certain things . This can be tak.en too far also.
You've heard the trite phrase , "What's my motivation?"
Answer : "Your paycheck! "
In order to make the performance believable,
sometimes the actor must create a whole past for their
character leading up to the very moment that the curtain
rises and the play begins. That character biography
contains only the necessary materia l to support the
motivations , feelings , words and actions that appear in the
play itself. Nothing can contradict. Everything in the
biography is there to support something in the script.
I recommended one thing to her. I said, "How about
making your character ageless? What would that do?" She
paused for a long time, looking straight ahead at nothing,
Now really.do new clowns need to do anything like this?
What kind of character study is really needed to get you
ready for Busy Bee?
14 The New Calliope