Bouffon with Peter Sweet | 19 - 31 October 2026

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About

This boundless style of grotesque comedy empowers you to create dangerously funny satire about the world that we live in. As socially unacceptable as they are hilarious, Bouffons take great pleasure at mocking the things we humans hold most dear.

They live on the fringes, observing all of the ridiculous games that we play with keen eyes. They don’t care what society thinks of them, so they are free to act out everything that they see with fierce honesty. In this way they turn a mirror on the audience, exposing us to the aspects of our own behavior that most of us would much prefer to avoid.

Skills Covered:

Improvising as a “Band” of Bouffons:

• Flocking / Moving together as a chorus

• Shape shifting together as Bouffons

Unlocking your unique Bouffon:

• Discovering how your Bouffon moves, breathes and speaks.

• Masking the body - using body modification to create the grotesque form of your “Bouffon”

Imitating the world:

• Shape shifting into everything from politicians to bus drivers to house-plants.

• Imitating the world: Creating every “where” you can think of with your Band of Bouffons from the European Parlement to the Serengeti.

Dramaturgy of Bouffon:

• Spiral Madness! How to amplify themes into a dizzying, fractal plot structure.

Writing with Bouffons:

• How to use topical research to fuel improvisation

Finding your voice:

• Letting your Bouffon say the things you want to say but normally “can’t”.

In the first days of the workshop you will learn the core skills that you will need to create material in this style of comedy. Beginning with moving together as a “chorus”, you will then learn to shape shift together into objects, people and places. With this foundation you will improvise as a group, playing games as children do that eventually merge into imitating human behavior (as children also do!).

Fueled by the collective madness of the group, you will enter higher and higher states of play. This activation of the group in play brings out forms in the bodies of each individual. You will learn how to use foam and other materials to amplify that form and create the grotesque body of your Bouffon.

In the final stage of the work you will choose a theme from the world and create a piece of wild, irreverent satire with your band of Bouffons!

About the teacher: 

Peter Sweet’s embodied approach to theater combines the madness of play with the rigour of technique. He shares the most effective tools that he has discovered and developed over 25 years of performing, teaching and directing. His unique pedagogy is grounded in his long practice of the Alexander Technique, Wu Tao breath work, and a wide range of somatic and martial arts.

Peter studied physical theatre at the Helikos School in Florence under Giovanni Fusetti and Matteo Destro, contemporary dance at SEAD in Salzburg, and circus at École du Cirque Zofy (CH). He certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique at AZAT in Munich.

His solo and duo shows—including Meet Pete Sweet, Swinging High, BOOM!, and the current touring production Foolish Doom—have been performed in over 20 countries. He served as director of creation and performance in the circus department at Die Etage Berlin and is a thesis advisor and coach for the Master in Choreography at Fontys (NL). He has also taught at Stockholm University of the Arts, ZHdK in Zurich, and the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich.

Peter is currently based in Berlin, where he directs professional companies, teaches workshops and throws his heart into every project that he dives into. In his free time he reads fantasy, plays the drums, and flies kites on the Tempelhofer Feld.