Every Clown has a Silver Lining...

Happy Sunday everybody! I hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves. Well, after all the excitement of last weekends event and then the announcements that followed I have thrown myself wholeheartedly into preparation for "The House of Burlesque" at the Kings Theatre, Portsmouth on Saturday.

It is time, for me, to become, a clown!

"NOT VERY HARD!"

I hear you all cry, but on the contrary, it can be rather hard. It's true of the fact that you can white up your face, throw on a silly hat, some oversized shoes and wander haphazardly around a room tripping over patterns in the carpet and surreptitiously squirting unprepared spectators with the fake plastic flower on your lapel BUT there is method and skills to be learnt and even a code of conduct if you want to reach the realms of the Clown Elite.

I do not profess to be a professional clown, nor would I want to insult the clowning profession with my random bumbling around the stage so, to this end, I have partaken in some 'Clown Training' via the fantastic medium that is The Internet.

Historically, clowns have served not only to entertain the masses, but as political satirists, scapegoats and in some countries they were even believed to have the power to cure certain diseases. There skills ranged from 'baffooning' around to magic to fire eating to working with animals to contortion and all things in between.

Costuming and make-up has always been an important factor, with status often being linked to particular items of clothing or make-up style.

The"whiteface" clown used "clown white" makeup on the entire face and neck with none of the underlying flesh colour showing and there features were, delicately highlighted in red and black. Traditionally they were costumed far more extravagantly than other clown types, sometimes wearing the ruffled collar and pointed hat which typify the stereotypical "clown suit".

Auguste clowns are possibly the most well known of the clown types with there base makeup colour as a variation of pink, red, or tan rather than white. There features are exaggerated in size and are typically red and black with the mouth and eyes thickly outlined with white. The auguste is dressed in either oversized or too smaller clothing. Bold colours, large prints or patterns, and braces often characterise the auguste.

Character clowns were first developed by the Americans and are most usually a Hobo, bum or tramp. Often down on there luck and dishevelled in appearance with a sad clown face. They are more often than not silent clowns that react brightly to laughs from the crowd.

Additionally there is the 'Jester', 'The Perriot' and 'The Harlequin' who are all easily identified by the character, costuming and makeup and who all have different roles that they play; for example, it is the Harlequin's job to be mischievous, often causing havoc with the other clowns props, striking them with comedy effect with his stick, and ruining there tricks. It is said that slapstick was born with the Harlequins.

From my research (which is on going) clowning is very much about creating your own character and story with in the frameworks that have been laid out within clown history. I will be bringing magic into play with "Peski the Clown", a noble and historic favourite as well as some physical comedy and traditional sideshow skills.

My make-up is influenced by the "white face" clown with delicate accents and my costume, although not traditional, has an oversized frilly skirt and comically large shoes. Many of the magic tricks I will be performing are old favourites to clowns with feats such as "needle through balloon" and "the magical linking rings" to name but a few.

I am really really looking forward to performing this act and watching it grow. I'm looking on it a starting point with the potential to spawn lots more creativity and ideas, afterall, who wouldn't want to be a clown?

Thanks to TipTop photography for the fabulous pictures used in this blog.

Keep it Magical and Smile at every chance

Peski
xxx