Philippe Gaulier (born in Paris, 4 March 1943) is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a prestigious French theatre school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lecoq in the mid-1960s and was an instructor at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in the late 1970s. As well as performing as a

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

, he is also a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and director. He has published ''The Tormentor'' (''Le Gégèneur''), a book discussing his thoughts on the theatre and containing exercises designed to develop an actor's skill. Gaulier is known for performing both clown and bouffon comic genres and is thought by some to be the world's leading authority on the "Bouffon", a

comic genre a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate d ...

he holds as a sort of inverted Clown, where a balance is struck between grotesqueness and charm.

Approach to training

Gaulier's methodology of teaching is designed to allow the student to develop their own beauty and the pleasure of being on stage. For example, with the clown, he helps students uncover their own clown. There are philosophical principles involved, but his training is not mired in technicalities. "I don't teach a special style; what I teach more is a wonderful spirit. People have to develop a way of being beautiful and surprising." By beauty he means "anyone in the grip of pleasure or freedom". In this, his approach notably differs from that of his teacher, the famous late master 'bouffon' Jacques Lecoq, who some criticised as being overly doctrinaire. "You can always tell a Lecoq student," Gaulier states. "Too much emphasis on image."From the sublime to the ridicule
'Daily Telegraph'', By Dominic Cavendish, 12 Mar 2001 Philippe Gaulier's way into acting (i.e. he also teaches Shakespeare, Chekhov,

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

) is also thoroughly grounded in the principle of Le Jeu (the game).

École Philippe Gaulier

Founded in 1980, the École Philippe Gaulier is a theatre workshop based around play or 'Le Jeu' being the core of making and performing theatre. It promotes the theory that acting is a child's game played with great pleasure and dexterity that forms a rapport with the audience by speaking to their imagination. In 1991, the

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

persuaded Gaulier to move the École Philippe Gaulier to the United Kingdom, where it was based for eleven years until 2002. In 2005, it reopened back in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, until 2011, when it moved again, this time to Étampes, where it opened in summer 2011. Organised by Small Nose Productions, Philippe returns to the UK once a year to runs workshops at Trestle Arts Base in St Albans, Herts. Sacha Baron Cohen,

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

, Helena Bonham Carter, Roberto Benigni and Simon McBurney number among his students.

Sources

Theatre school Philippe GaulierUniversitat Der Kunste Berlin - Philippe Gaulier

References

External links

École Philippe Gaulier websiteLucy Amsden's University of Glasgow Phd thesis on learning clown at École Philippe Gaulier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaulier, Philippe 1943 births Living people French clowns Physical theatre L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq alumni

Approach to training

École Philippe Gaulier

See also

Sources

References

External links