EFD 2021 Prague

Even if they seem to move in different artistic universes, the drama therapist and the clown can inspire each other. While the drama therapist searches for ways to explore and find images for inner universes with his clients through a large variety of theatrical means, the clown walks on parallel paths. When the clown gets started, his aim is not to search for an essential truth, he much rather stumbles into it while being preoccupied with the sometimes absurd adversities of every day life. What is true in drama therapy is even more condensed within the clown figure: the body becomes the source of an aesthetic exploration, imagination and expression of a personal play within a given space. And though the clown has not set forth to find the themes and conflicts of his life, in a sense,  they will find him while he is devotedly and joyfully getting intermingled with the  challenges and the chances he will meet on his path. When he happens to cross way with another clown, he will meet the unknown with his  unique curiosity, goodwill and trust.  Together, they might explore their emotional reactions, observe their physical interactions and over time discover their own kind of communication and body language. During this workshop, we will explore through a variety of exercises which are the aspects of the clown's figure and of clowning that may enrich our practice in drama therapy: particularly the work on the body as an „instrument“ of expression, the use of items and the space and the exchange with a partner specifically on an emotional and physical scale.