Reprise: what is the clown's number in the circus performance

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

The essence of the number

Almost all clown reprises left by artists of world level, being real works of art, are popular and quite applicable on the stage today. The secret that makes hundreds of thousands of people laugh or think about them from decade to decade is their semantic fullness, depth and references to eternal and lasting values. This is one of the striking features that a really good reprise has. What is action means for circus numbers, it's difficult to exaggerate.

A vivid example of the importance of a clown in a circus performance can be the work of the great mime Leonid Yengibarov, whose numbers were usually placed at the end of the whole circus program and were its main spectacle (an almost unprecedented case).

In general, the order in which performances in a concert action are located is of great importance. Especially it concerns such a thin material, which is usually a clown reprise. What is the high value is given precisely pantomime or speech satirical or parody numbers, to explain quite simply.

Artistic presentation fabric

In order to clearly demonstrate the place that the reprise should occupy, what is the order and rationality of the arrangement of numbers, it is necessary to look at the example, which in large numbers can be found in the history of circus art.

So, the legendary Pencil, who, as we know, was distinguished by a subtle sense of artistic space, successfully selected props and possessed an innate sense of measure. For example, in his issue "Foci", a Soviet artist, as a real illusionist, showed the public a sheet of a newspaper in which everyone was wrapping a bottle in front of everyone, and after several bright gestures with a shout of "Focuses!" He unfolded it. A bottle with a bow rolled out of the pant leg, and the clown "disgraced" ran to the joyful laugh of the audience.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it would be for a true illusionist to speak after such a number of Pencil. And because the clown always put such performances strictly after the parodied objects, thereby strengthening the effect of their numbers. This is the meaning of reprise; What is a real interlude in circus art.

Result

It should be noted that over time, the activity of clowns, aimed at debunking the myths of circus strong men, sinks of fire and circus miracles, has done its work. And now on the arena the rate is increasingly being made for visual numbers and acrobatics. The illusionists are gradually moving back into the past.

Arguing about the overriding goal of the clown in general, it is quite possible to assume that it is ridiculing the very nature of the circus and its methods: it jumps on horses, climbs under the dome to walk along the rope, boxing with kangaroos - and does it all so that the audience laughs . However, this is just what is on the surface.

Seeking funny sides in the most diverse scenes of his life, the artist seems to be shading something that is worthy of respect. The canopy can fall - the clown falls, causing fear in the viewer. A juggler can drop a mace - a clown will surely drop it, and not only on his head (himself or his companion).

However, where there is nothing to laugh at, a thinly sensitive artist will not do this. So, even at the beginning of his career Pencil planned to organize a room with live lions, taking as a basis an episode from Chaplin's famous film Circus. However, very soon abandoned his idea, explaining that he could not find anything funny in the fact that animals are kept behind bars and forced to dance to music with the help of a whip.