A love of the grotesque, the forbidden, bad taste, irony, parody, and all things deformed: These are the toys and tools of the Bouffon, the outcast who lives to provoke the audience without losing their love.

In contrast to the Clown, the Bouffon dares to mock the audience while simultaneously staying alive—a balancing act that requires supreme sensitivity and intelligence. The stakes could not be higher: If they lose the love of the audience, the Bouffon will be killed!

In this workshop, you will play games and do exercises that will help you discover where your own personal Bouffon lives—a place of danger and daring.

Please note that this workshop invites you, through playful performance, to critique power in its many forms. You should be willing to dive into and embody material that may be considered difficult, as the workshop aims to bring historically marginalized voices and bodies, as well as subjects considered to be taboo or risqué, to the forefront.

ABOUT AITOR BASAURI

Aitor Basauri is joint artistic director, performer, and co-founder of Spymonkey. He is a performer, director, and one of the most eagerly sought-after teachers in the world for clown and physical comedy, a visiting tutor at the École Philippe Gaulier in Paris and Cirque du Soleil’s Cirque du Monde Foundation in Las Vegas. He teaches clown around the world in London, Berlin, Barcelona, Zurich, New York, Los Angeles, Colombia, and Mexico.

ABOUT SPYMONKEY

Since their inception in 1998 Spymonkey has created some of the most outstandingly original comedy theater, including Stiff, Cooped, Moby Dick, Oedipussy, and The Complete Deaths.

Television and stage appearances have seen them work alongside Sacha Baron Cohen, Naomi Campbell, Miranda Hart, Sandi Toksvig, Ronnie Corbett, Fiona Shaw, and Nick Frost.

Widely acknowledged as world leaders in the fields of clown and physical comedy, they are sought out as teachers, consultants, and directors for their insight and experience in creating brilliant, original, and singular work by organizations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

Their expanding program of professional masterclasses and workshops regularly sell out in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and London.