| This thesis examines why and how clown has been used as a serious character by important modernist playwrights and directors in twentieth-century theatre. The central argument of this thesis is that clown presents an approach that is profoundly different from other modes of theatrical representation. The essential nature of clown is to resist mimetic conventions, always asserting an alternative logic of stage action. It is this "clown logic" that allows us to identify clowns from among different characters in dozens of different theatrical traditions. in spite of changing formal settings and physical manifestations. Clown is a way of doing rather than a type of character. Just as Grock, King of Clowns, would suddenly yell, "Sans Blaague!" (No Joke!) to surprise his audience with his awareness of the absurdity of what he had created, so the modernists examined in this thesis used clown technique to create an awareness of theatrical representation.;Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Giorgio Strehler and Dario Fo, all acknowledged masters of twentieth-century theatre, were influenced by clown performance-techniques and in many cases by specific working clowns. By examining major works of these masters, the purpose of clown in this modernist milieu is explored.;Meyerhold satirized Russian Symbolism and naturalism before replacing these forms with an equally rigid aesthetic criteria. Brecht developed a contradictory acting style based on clown logic, but applicable to any character in any situation. Beckett applied clown logic to create dramatic texts with a poetic action distinct from previously understood ideas of narrative or language. Strehler demonstrated that Brecht and Beckett's innovations could be applied to texts from earlier eras, creating modernist presentations of classic plays. Fo presented clowning as a counter-authoritarian way of life, implying that the main job of clown was outside of the theatre. In each case clown was used to indicate a formal innovation, or to criticize an existing form and was also presented as a hero of tragic stature. |
