Casting the net

On my clown course we learnt to ‘cast the net’. This is an act of the imagination using a metaphor drawn from fishing. It is a practice used at the start of an interaction with an audience where the clown (trainee clown) takes a moment to regard the audience intently and imagine casting a net over everyone. In my mind’s eye the net is made of white gossamer or finest lace, and only the clown knows it’s there.

Initially I thought casting the net was an assertion of power… a way to manipulate the group to bring them under the clown’s spell. But it isn’t. Clown teacher Peta Lily writes: ‘The ‘net’ is a very efficient metaphor for where one’s attention is placed.’

You cast the net in order to focus attention on the present moment, on your own body, and on the people you’re present with. Clowning is about creating connection between the clown and individual members of the audience, as well as with the whole audience together. Ideally it even creates connection between members of the audience. This is what happened when I was so entranced by Brotipo and their performance at Edinburgh (http://www.tinahodgett.net/clown). I felt a sense of intense connection with the clowns and the others who were sharing the experience.

The clown can facilitate this connection by being fully present in the now, acknowledging every micro-emotion and event in themselves and their audience. They grow the bond by illuminating these micro-movements, sometimes by mirroring them. On the final day of our course the clown teacher explained to me that she’d seen me touching my mouth when she’d been demonstrating a technique. She had touched her mouth in response, to create a deeper bond of connection.

Clowning is about being aware of what is happening around you. It’s about responding to it in the moment, accepting it as gift, whatever it is, and working with it to create laughter and through shared laughter, connection.

Perhaps you’re already seeing the relationship to a particular kind of pioneering.