About
ClownX is a multidisciplinary joint of artists, creating site specific theatre and working with local communities to form total experiences. Clown X works to return the classic, raw, live theatre spirit to the city streets where it first started. Clown X’s street theatre combines all exhibition arts, to a unique language of direct communication with the audience. Clown X strives for a direct dialogue, openness and listening, in a way that leaves no room for apathy.
Breaking a person down into their component causes creates points in space and time. Between these points, different contours can be sketched Some meet and some run parallel They complete a picture The story of the clown.
The clown, in his essence, frees people from their constraints and conventions. He challenges the consciousness of the masses, because this has replaced the consciousness of the lord. Inasmuch as these two have become intertwined, the clown’s role remains to shed light on the space that exists between the two sides of the coin. He was born of the mysterious “trickster” who, with time, replaced religious priests, becoming the “scapegoat” whose head is severed in various ways in order to free up conventions, and to provide people an ecstatic escape from suffering. From the snake in the Garden of Eden, until the mysterious “Big Foot”, and trolls in the forests, from the fallen angels, through the embodiments of Satan, and the various images of the anti-Christ. From the figure of the fool, to the royal court jester, which then split off into comics, go-go girls, pantomime and Ronald McDonald, by way of the buffoon, and until the clown trio of the modern circus. Today, with the awareness of the creepy clowns which fed off of the Catalonian “black nose” movement that grew from a medieval mysteriousness that was hidden way in the modern era, and with the range of individualism destroying the conventions of the past, new branches are being created on this ancient family tree.
E.Prywes
“The street is a 360* theatre”
King Lear, the Fool and the Taoist
Excerpts from the works of Dr. Yaron Schwartz
Kolakowski writes: “The jester, although he mingles with high society, is not a part of it. Moreover, he is the one that points out and tells us uncomfortable things about the people within it; he disputes anything which seems a testament to this. This behavior would not be possible were he an integral part of society; the jester must come from the side in order to observe “good society” from the outside, in order to reveal the lack of testimony in testimony, the infinity of what seems finite. At the same time, he needs to live as part of this society in order to understand its “sacred cows”, and frequently, to tell the society uncomfortable truths about them. The philosophy of the clown is based on casting doubt on everything which seems certain and taken for granted. He can raise objections even to that which was proven by visual experience. He can change everything which seems logical into something ridiculous, and to reveal the truth in what seems absurd.”
Kolakowski’s definition is reminiscent of the place of the Taoist, and his ability to observe the process of the social life which is conditioned on the intellect, and most of all, to do this without fear of society’s reaction. The fool knows that only through true madness can the world be related to rationally.
Who is the theatrical fool, and how is his character similar to that of the Taoist?
The theatrical fool is an extreme character, with animalistic, and even satanic elements to him. He can appear in any place and transform into any form he desires, and the laws of time and space do not apply to him. His dress changes instantaneously and he can be in many places at the same time. The fool always accompanies someone who is socially successful, but he doesn’t really serve anyone. He is always smarter than the person he is ostensibly serving, and can serve as a mirror for any person. The essence of his independence stems from the fact that he has understood that the whole world is really an act of foolery.
The fool’s philosophy is based on the belief that everyone is a fool, and that the greatest fool is he who does not know that he is a fool. When the fool is self-aware he begins to represent a position which counters the fundamentalist social order, or at the least, he reveals and points out this order, just as the Taoist does. Madness here is already a philosophy. In the West, this philosophy is considered absurd, when the truth of who is a jester becomes clarified. In Eastern culture, this philosophy represents the full awareness of the fact that a person is whole only when he has no definitions, when he is “no man”. What in the West is called madness will be seen as enlightenment in the East.
