Current Research: A Practise-Based Exploration of Mask/Clown and the Development of a New Pedagogy

The development of a creative pedagogy through mask and clown and the possibilities that these methods could present in the education of students across other performance-related disciplines.

The research documents the active interrogation of my practice by using an auto-ethnographic approach, relating to practice and creative process within the context of devising and teaching. During the process of engaging with the research, a number of new findings and methods have emerged. This new knowledge has been developed and established upon the existing concepts of play, complicité, embodiment and kinetic empathy.

These emergent methods have subsequently been compiled to create a robust framework for a new creative pedagogy. The focus of the pedagogy is not on teaching mask and clown as disciplines, but on how to incorporate elements of mask and clown into a student’s existing knowledge base.

This pedagogy has been developed to teach, support and mentor students by providing them with the necessary skills to create audience-engaged performances, which are rooted in play, complicité and empathy.

photography by Maurice Gunning