Reprise: what is the number of a clown in a circus performance

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The term "reprise" itself is used quite widely. First of all, in many types of variety and circus art, where it is a number or scene filled with actions strung on one plot. A clown's reprise is a verbal scene or pantomime (and more often a fusion of these two directions), which, in an original playful or tragicomic vein, carry a certain message expressed in the language of symbols, remarks and allegories.

The essence of the number

Almost all the clown reprises that world-class artists left behind, being real works of art, are popular and quite applicable on stage today. The secret that makes hundreds of thousands of people laugh or think about them from decade to decade lies in their semantic fullness, depth and references to eternal enduring values. This is one of the bright characteristics that a really good reprise has. What this action means for a circus act is hard to exaggerate.

A striking example of the significance of a clown in a circus performance can be the work of the great mime Leonid Yengibarov, whose numbers, as a rule, were staged inend of the entire circus program and were its main spectacle (an almost unprecedented case).

In general, the order in which performances are placed in a concert action is of great importance. This is all the more true for such subtle material, which is usually a clown reprise. It is quite easy to explain what such a high value is attached to pantomime or speech satirical or parodic numbers.

Artistic fabric performance

In order to clearly demonstrate what place the reprise should take, what the sequence and rationality of the arrangement of numbers are, we should refer to an example that can be found in large numbers in the history of circus art.

Thus, the legendary Pencil, who, as you know, had a subtle sense of artistic space, successfully selected props and had an innate sense of proportion. For example, in his “Tricks” issue, the Soviet artist, like a real illusionist, showed the public a sheet of newspaper in which he wrapped a bottle in front of everyone, and after several bright gestures with a shout of “Tricks!” unfolded it. The bottle with a bow rolled out of the trouser leg, and the clown "in disgrace" ran away to the joyful laughter of the audience.

It's easy to imagine how hard it would be for a real illusionist to perform after such a Pencil number. That is why the clown always put such performances strictly after the objects being parodied, thereby enhancing the effect of his numbers. That's the meaning of the reprise; what is realsideshow in circus art.

Result

It is worth noting that over time, the activities of clowns, aimed at debunking the myths about circus strongmen, fire-eaters and circus miracles, did their job. And at present, the arena is increasingly focusing on visual numbers and acrobatics. Illusionists are gradually receding into the past.

Regarding about the clown's ultimate task in general, one might well assume that it is to ridicule the very nature of the circus and its methods: he rides a horse, climbs under the dome to walk the tightrope, boxing with a kangaroo - and does it all in such a way that that the audience goes into laughter. However, this is only what is on the surface.

Looking for funny sides in a wide variety of pictures of the life around him, the artist, as it were, sets off what is worthy of respect. The tightrope walker can fall - the clown falls, causing fear in the viewer. A juggler can drop a mace - a clown will certainly drop it, and only on the head (of himself or his companion).

However, where there is nothing to laugh at, the sensitive artist will not do it. So, at the beginning of his career, Pencil planned to organize a performance with live lions, based on an episode from Chaplin's famous film "The Circus". However, he very soon abandoned his idea, explaining that he could not find anything funny in the fact that animals were kept behind bars and forced to dance to music with a whip.