THE WORKSHOP
Chagrin gives Workshops all over the World, teaching Silent Comedy and
Mime Techniques to Clowns, Comedians, Actors, Magicians and Dancers.
The Workshop is interactive and includes:
Basic Techniques
The Trip
The Double Take
Manipulating imaginary objects
The Window
The Fixed Point
Hand Undulation
Pulling
Pushing
and much more!
This is a rare opportunity to learn from a
Master of Comedy.
FIRST HALF
Warm up
Learning simple pantomime techniques.
Then we break a few inhibitions with the help of well known clown tricks,
such as:
Different Sorts of Laughter
Julian performs his "Laughter Sketch", the group then copies it adding
ideas of their own.
Stage fighting
The group is taught various hits, slaps, foot stamps, nose pulls, hair
pulls
and
punches to be used in later improvisations.
Tripping up
How to trip up convincingly on stage, not as easy as you might think.
Learning to communicate convincingly in Gibberish.
The Double Take, again not as easy as you might think.
Improvisation using all the above Comedy.
Techniques
Working in pairs the participants work out a scene where they use the
above
techniques and then perform a short Comedy Improv for the group.
Hysterical!!!!!
SECOND HALF
Figuration
The group now learns a completely different ComedyTechnique.
Figuration is a very original and yet incredibly simple method of story telling.
The participants, who are by now thoroughly warmed up and have lost a great
deal of their inhibitions, form into small groups of five or six, and for ten minutes
prepare a short scene which they then perform for the group.
Figuration is very easy to learn – and yet it's a very funny and entertaining
technique which only needs the creative minds of the group.
The Technique
Each group acts out a simple story, sometimes a fairy tale, or a legend,
a bible story or even a scene from the office, whatever they want.
One Member tells the story, another plays the hero, while the rest of the group
play the background décor as well as whatever props the hero uses!
Imagine the Hero entering an elevator and then riding a bike,
all created by the bodies of the group!
It's a brilliantly funny Visual Technique as well as being a lesson
in awareness of one's colleagues.
This gives our groups the chance to really inter-react as they must co-operate
with each other to invent ingenious machines made up from their bodies
(Here the groups have to be very aware of each other and work really closely
together because a lot of the story will be made upon the spot).
Pop to the Top
REVIEW OF THE WORKSHOP
A True Secret Revealed
Docc Hilford
Ever wonder why some magicians are received so much better by their audiences
than others? Is it their personalities or the tricks they demonstrate? If you could
have a magic spell that made the tricks you perform two, three or even four times
more entertaining, what would it be worth? And what if I told you someone has this
secret and is willing to GIVE it to you?
Such is the case with Julian Chagrin. Julian isn’t a magician as we know it, but rather
a doyen capable of actually creating person, beast and intricate scene from thin air.
Wherein magicians in our universe hide objects in our sleeves or in secret compartments
only to quickly reveal them as magical creations, Julian literally fabricates a cocktail glass,
tables and even a party of invisible people around him. Although there is nothing to see
but the illusion of a soiree, we are magically plucked from our seats and transported to
an unknown location where people chatter away while sipping drinks. The effect is
undeniably magical. Julian is an Academy Award nominated director whose ten part
television series, The Orchestra, has won international acclaim. Julian is a master at
stagecraft, comedy and, most importantly, pantomime.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend Julian Chagrin’s IBM / SAM sponsored
workshop in Miami. The topic was the practical application of mime for magicians.
I found myself sitting on a metal folding chair in a room lit by florescent tube lights.
Around me lining the room’s perimeter were local, and for the most part, amateur magi.
Their ages being from fourteen to seventy-four. Among the crowd of students were a
few seasoned professionals; the infamous Fantasio, second only to the instructor in
knowledge about pantomime, and the creative mentalists, Guy Bavali was there.
Guy studied with Julian years earlier and credits Julian with teaching him to take
control of a stage. I know what you’re thinking. A mentalist studied mime? Ah, yes,
my friend. Those of us who perform theatre study all aspects of the art, and pantomime
is a vital part of theatre. It’s certainly not just for theme park clowns, imprisoned in
imaginary boxes of glass, annoying guests with their tearful white grease paint
covered faces! No, it’s one of the factors that makes a close up, stand up or comedy
magician so well received. The sad point is that so few magicians ever study it at all.
Most of us at the workshop had no idea what to expect. Were we going to lean how
to wear white gloves, horizontally striped shirts and black berets? One fellow told me
he expected Julian to sport white face, but not so. Instead, he displayed a lovable face
that changed with a whim. His style was easy. To begin the workshop, Master Chagrin
had us move our hands in a simple motion, something like waves on water. One would
think amid magicians that finger movement would come as easily as scratching comes
to a monkey, yet there we were, twenty students who looked like we’re petting cats!
Students found they weren’t as in control of their digits as they may have believed.
Even this basic beginning had deep ramifications for the magicians present. Combined
with a couple of other practical exercises we were given the capacity to quickly improve
our sleight of hand techniques. If this humble start was all Julian taught us, we could
have left richer for the experience, but there was nearly two hours ahead.
The remaining time was loaded with applicable maneuvers. Each of us learned how
to move more fluidly, how to see what we imagined and how to communicate by way
of a look rather than by way of a hundred words. The time spent on how to execute
a standard “double take” uncovered dozens of problems had by many performers.
For example, so often we don’t look up at the audience. Oh I know, we THINK we do.
We’ve been told since we began showing tricks to, “Make eye contact,” but by half way
through the workshop, the students discovered they tend to look at the floor. Many tried
to do two things at once, blurring their true intent. Some tried to be too clever and
missed the assignment. Most students were in a hurry to finish the exercise and quickly
return to the safety of their chair. But through Julian’s patience and expertise, we
eventually uncovered new aspects of our potential.
Every magician realizes that an audience can find it difficult to understand what’s
happening in even the simplest of our tricks. We spend hours conceiving clever patter
lines to explain our actions. “Here is a rope. I take the scissors and cut the rope,” is a
dangerous pit we’ve all been taught to avoid, yet we still hear that type of speech at
many meeting performances. Why do we need to explain our tricks? Is it because we’re
afraid that the audience doesn’t understand us. Julian kindly and professionally exposed
the source of any audience confusion to be our lack of clarity.
In the workshop, after each assignment, everyone was given an individual evaluation;
truly a priceless gift. Soon we become believable, clear, expressive, We were changed;
subtly, yet undeniably. At the conclusion, Julian gave us a real treat. He transformed the
starkly lighted room into a scene from the old west. Before an imaginary desert backdrop,
he created a woman in distress, a cad and a hero to save the day. The comic horse that
ran through the room produced hoots of laughter.
The best aspect of this IBM / SAM sponsored workshop is that you may have an
opportunity to attend it. Julian Chagrin is arranging to visit select cities in the US
before he returns to his home in Israel. Those who know value will do whatever
is necessary to attend this workshop. One could invest an expected fee of piles
of dollars to study with a master, but you’ll have to opportunity to do so through
your local club for the price of a lecture! And those who think pantomime isn’t something
they’ll ever use can stay home, hear about what an opportunity they missed and wonder
why some guys are received better than they are.
