Nalleblue’s Weblog

The reason we perform is to help the audiance experience a catharsis.
The greek philosopher Aristotle used the word as a medical term describing the bodies different cleansing processes but later used the term to describe the effect the audiance experiances when watching a tragedy play.
In short catharsis means emotional cleansing, it is a release of pent-up emotion. Children cathart all the time. When they are sad they cry. If angry they scream and fall to the ground in tantrums. Catharis for me as an artists tool means losing control of the emotion. Not always easy as we are always afraid of the real consequences of vomiting ourselves of fear, shaking of anger and peeing ourselves of laughter. The full spectre of emotions can be climaxed, can reach the point where the emotion becomes stronger than the intellect. And once the body has performed the response it needs one finds oneself calm and balanced. Emotionally cleansed.
As we become adults we are taught to control our emotions. That it is not adult like behavior to cry on the bus, be afraid of the dark or laugh at vegetables at the grocery store. Yet does the adult body not have the same need to emotionally cleanse as the child?
I think it does and art has always been a justified way of helping people experience emotions. It is ok to cry at a movie, laugh at a play and scream at a concert.
I believe that part of the artists roll in society is to help people stay happy and balanced by giving them platforms where they can cathart.
Catharsis, climax and catastrophes are words that have meant a lot to me in my search for comedy material that works internationally needing to cross cultural and language barriers.
Climax is somehow the key performing tool I have found that helps us create a catharsis for an audience. If an artist can involve the audience in his actions and then keep them while building towards the situations climax, the audience response is tangible. As an artist I can feel there emotional response like a wave that gives that artist high we end up always searching for.
For the climax tool to work it is necessary to be in tune with the audience. Therefore I created the rule that the artist always must begin on a lower energy level then his audiance, catch them and then bring them with you up to a climax.
Catastrophe is a beautiful word which has meant a lot to me. Early in my clowning career I thought of the concept Catastrophe Clowning, which could mean performing in areas struck by catastrophe, performing for anybody personally struck by catastrophe as well as pertraying the internationally recognizable ordeal of the individual dealing with catastrophe.
I am not sure where I first heard the concept that the word catastrophe did not necessarily mean a negativ climax but could also be the ultimate positiv turning point as well.
In the greek theater the Catastrophe was the term for the climax and resolution of the plot, positively that everybody gets married in the end or negatively that everybody dies. When teaching clown I use the Catastrophe as the goal of every improvisation. Most people generalize that just because the clown uses failure as a tool that it must always fail. Instead I use the concept of catastrophe which in this case could be described as an emotional climax, leading to a turning point and resolution.
This can mean either success or failure.