Pretty Ugly: Bouffon in Pedagogy and Practice

Sep. 25, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. MDT

In his book, Why Is That So Funny?: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy, John Wright says, “If the clown loves the audience and is driven by an insatiable appetite for play, the buffoon [bouffon] hates the audience and is driven by an insatiable appetite for parody.” This form of theatre has the potential to instigate social change, but if practiced irresponsibly can lead to an audience tuning out and resisting whatever message the performer is expressing.

Join Jake Tkaczyk as he facilitates a panel discussion with the phenomenal Deanna Fleysher, Ken Hall, Nathaniel Justiniano, and Janice Jo Lee about teaching and practicing bouffon. We will discuss these artists’ different approaches to this format, how bouffon functions as a teaching tool, and reasons why it can be so effective or disastrous in front of an audience.