Meet Clown! - Theater Lab with Peter Sweet | 14-16 July

14 - 16 July, 2023

Friday 17:00-21:00

Saturday and Sunday 10:00-18:00

Register Here: https://forms.gle/FvjaQxhEVKiqkTjcA

Theater Lab with Peter Sweet is an ongoing workshop program that offers rigorous training in theater technique, creation methods and movement awareness.

Meet Clown!

“The sublime stupidity of the clown is the enduring openness to life and to the present moment, despite the radical imperfection of human nature.” -Giovanni Fusetti

In this 3 day workshop you will learn the fundamentals of theatrical clowning and explore what it is about you that moves people to laughter. By playing together we will enter a naive state of discovery. You will practice sharing your honest, spontaneous reactions with the audience through the theatrical form of your individual clown. This is a brave and playful act of comic poetry. It opens the door to true presence on stage and a freedom to play with everything that happens to you.

Each of us has an individual way of moving that expresses something essential about who we are. Through close observation of the body moving in theatrical space we can learn to recognise our own somatic patterns and amplify them with the help of what Jacques Lecoq called “the smallest mask in the world”: the red nose. This process reveals the unique clown of each person, with its own physicality, voice, costume and comedic timing.

You don’t need any special experience before you arrive, just the desire to live fully and share what you are with your audience. This work is as ridiculous and fun as it is challenging. Performers of all levels, as well as non-performers, can learn about themselves and the craft of clowning from this rich field of work.

Peter’s approach to clown combines the madness of play with the rigour of technique. He teaches the most effective tools that he has has used in his 20+ years of performing and directing clown, physical theatre, and circus. Peter frist discovered clown in a workshop with Avner "The Eccentric" Eisenberg in 2003 and has developed his practice of clowning and clown pedagogy through his long mentorship with Giovanni Fusetti, founding director of the Helikos International School of Theater Creation. Peter’s unique approach has been further enriched by his experience as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, Wutao breath-work, and a wide range of somatic and martial arts.

Skills Covered:

Play!

Discovering your clown

Entering and exiting the “clown state”

Playing with space

Making actions clear through articulation

Techniques for sharing your clown’s experience with the audience

About Theater Lab with Peter Sweet:

Theater Lab workshops are interrelated and compliment each other. You  can start with  any workshop and when you participate in multiple  workshops and revisit  workshop themes, you have the opportunity to  deepen your practice and  build your performance skills over time. If   you are already a performer, Theater Lab is a place to train the   fundamental skills necessary for bringing your creative vision to life   on stage. For those without a performance background, it is an   opportunity to dive into the world of movement based theater.

About the teacher:

Peter Sweet has been working as a performer, teacher and director of physical theater and contemporary circus since 2000. His solo and duo shows: Meet Pete Sweet (Clown developed with Avner "The Eccentric" Eisenberg), Swinging High (directed by Giovanni Fusetti), and BOOM! (directed by Matteo Destro) have toured in over 20 countries. Peter served as the director of performance in the circus department at Die Etage Berlin for 4 years. He is a thesis advisor and coach at Fonty’s Netherlands masters program in choreography and has been a guest teacher at the Stockholm University of Dance and Circus, Zurich University of the Arts and the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich.

Peter studied physical theatre at the Helikos International School of Theatre Creation in Florence, contemporary and classical dance at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Salzburg and circus at Ecole du Cirque Zofy in Sion (CH). He is a certified teacher of both the Alexander Technique and Wutao, a French movement art based on breath and undulation.

Peter is currently based in Berlin (DE), where he directs professional companies, teaches workshops and creates new works of inspired madness. In his free time he reads, flies kites, dances in the kitchen, and watches Muppet show re-runs.

This workshop uses a donation sliding scale system between 115€- 225€

Register Here: https://forms.gle/FvjaQxhEVKiqkTjcA

If you have questions please send an email to Peter Sweet:

info@petersweet.com

This event is organised in cooperation with Coraggio - Die kulturanstifter e.V.

For more info about workshops, visit https://www.coraggio.de/projekt/coraggio-lab/