PHYSICAL COMEDY – WORKSHOP
with Thomas Toppler & Richard Knight
(17-18 May 2025)
OVERVIEW
IN THIS WORKSHOP:
Physical comedy allows us to connect and provoke the audience's imagination from physical expressiveness, leaving the word in the background. In this workshop, based on pleasure and playfulness on stage, we will analyse basic factors in comedy such as, the game, rhythm and space. Using elements of Clown, Pantomime and Bouffon people will develop and explode their own comical expressive abilities. The workshop isn’t about being physically funny; it's about how much physical fun you can share with everyone else. When we reach this point; we start to truly play and discover our own freedom and humanity.
BASIC ELEMENTS:
The Game:
Discover the game of theatre and acting. This workshop explores the principles and robust play that are the foundations for everything we do onstage. Here we begin to open the door to playing impulsively from a place of pleasure to set you on the path to artistic freedom. Finding the game.
Clown:
The art of sensitivity, ridiculousness and hilarity. You will discover the power of failure and how to play the flop to find laughter and connection with your audiences.
Bouffon:
The art of parody and the grotesque. You will discover how to use laughter as a means for social commentary, to perform as a pack and to craft original material.
Pantomime:
The art of posture and gesture, body language. You will discover how to create strong striking comical postures and gestures, and the simplicity of comic imagery.
Rhythm:
A sense of comic timing. You will gain a strong awareness of comic beats, on beat and off beats.
Space:
How to play within a given space. You will discover that different types of spaces have different comic effects and or the space can be used as a comic effect.
WHO SHOULD DO THE COURSE?
If you ever wanted a taster course in physical comedy or a refresher course or just want to play have fun and hone your physical comedy or acting skills? Then this course is a must for you!! This is a rare one-off course, that will never be repeated again for this low price and it will unlikely be repeated with 2x master practitioners. How can we afford to do this at such a low price? Well, us practitioners just want to do a workshop for the simple fun of working together. We are simply charging a £50.00 /day fee, so we can cover the rental hire of the room and the flights from Austria to the UK, and most importantly we want genuine people to come to the workshop that really want to be there. We will be working with a small number of people, so send an email to: [email protected] to reserve your spot!
MEET YOUR TUTORS
THOMAS TOPPLER
Thomas Toppler is a musician, director and theatre teacher. He studied
percussion at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and acting at Ècole Philippe Gaulier. As a musician, he has worked with renowned orchestras and is a founding member of The Erlkings, known for their charming, radical and respectful arrangements of German art songs. As a director, he worked for his London-based theatre company Ship of Fools theatre company. He supervises programmes by music groups including Da Blechhaufn, Louie's Cage Percussion, The Hankebrothers, Mozartwochen 2019 and directs TV commercials. He teaches stage presence at the University of Music in Vienna and teaches Bouffon and Movement at the Ècole Philippe Gauliuer. In 2022 he won the Austrian theatre prize with his Bouffon play ‘A
modest proposal’ and toured with it throughout Austria and Germany. In May 2024, the new Bouffon theatre play ‘Wurst, Obst, Stirbst’ premiered at the TAG Theatre in Vienna.
Richard has been performing, directing and teaching in the theatre/TV/Film for over 30 years now. In 2014 worked with Andy Serkis during motion capture work for the physical vocabulary for Ultron and Iron Man for the film ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. He was also the personal mime tutor for Carey Mulligan for the feature film ‘Suffragette’, and was a physical comedy consultant for the RSC ‘Arden of Faversham’ and ‘Macbeth’. He has been a personal tutor for Ben Cohen and Kristina for ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ in 2013 as well as a Body Language expert for James May’s ‘Man Lab for the BBC, and 2017 for Michael McIntyre’s Midnight Game Show for BBC 1. He has also taught Physical Comedy at The National Theatre, was a slow-motion expert on Tim Burton’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ and has taught, performed all over the world including the Royal Family of Dubai, Qatar and Buckingham Palace. Other teaching merits, include the Royal College of Music, Royal School of Art, both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, East 15 Acting School and many of the UK top Drama Schools. He was Head of Movement for VETA (Vienna’s English Theatre Academy), where he designed the core movement curriculum. He currently teaches at the Comedy School in Camden and at East 15. Richard originally trained at as a Drama Specialist (B.Ed), trained with Jacques Lecoq, Philippe Gaulier, Antonio Fava and graduated from LAMDA as a classical actor.
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
LOCATION:
The Old Waterworks
North Road
Westcliff-on-Sea
Essex
SS0 7AB w: www.theoldwaterworks.com
Nearest Train Stations:
Prittlewell
Southend Victoria
Southend Central
DATES:
17 MAY 2024 - 12:00 – 6:00pm (Sat)
18 MAY 2024 - 12:00 – 6:00pm (Sun)
Fee:
£50/day
Pay cash on arrival
Contact: Richard: [email protected]