SEND IN THE CLOWN
Russian funny man Slava Polunin brings his show to China
Russian Slava Polunin remembers his friends laughing when he imitated Charlie Chaplin’s walk after watching The Kid as a kid — and realizes it may have been the start of his career.
“I believe that I was born a clown,” the 67-year-old says.
Polunin went on to win such honors as the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, which is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre.
He recently visited Beijing to introduce his award-winning performance, Slava’s Snowshow, which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.
It will be staged through Sept 3 in Beijing’s Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. It will run in Shanghai on Sept 14 and 15.
The show combines elements of clowning, mime, dance, visual effects and classic scores. It has been staged around the world over 6,000 times since 1993.
It appeals to different countries’ audiences, Polunin says.
Its absurdity appeals to Brits. Spanish appreciate its passion. Its poetic quality appeals to French. And its soulfulness comes from Russia. The (London) Telegraph says:
“Slava’s Snowshow touches the heart as well as the funny bone. Full of laughter and joy, it is a thing of rare theatrical beauty not to be missed.”
Polunin says: “What I love most about theater is the magic. Initially, theater consists of ritual — magical and aesthetic — but the magical part has been vanishing since. I would love to bring it back.
“Many things in the show come from childhood memories, like the image of snow. Snow is one of the magical things. It can be unbelievably beautiful. It brings immense joy, when you build snow fortresses, speed down the slope on a sledge, when you can surround your house with an army of funny snow people — snowmen.”
This evokes audience reactions, he says.
“The main feeling that people share spontaneously is the joy of returning to a stage of childhood when a sense of playful freedom overcomes our fears and habits. This is what I have dedicated my life to achieving on a daily basis.”
Polunin started out with pantomime.
He began to study the art of mime on his own while attending the Institute of Culture in Leningrad.
Through comical, physical and visual pieces he created with his onstage partner, Alexander Skvortsov, Polunin quickly became an icon of Russian culture. In the early ’80s, Polunin created his own theater company, Licedei, which he ended in 1991 and started his solo career.
Slava’s Snowshow is different every performance because it allows for improvisation.
“I do my best to prevent the artists in the company from knowing who is playing who until the last moment. I also try to set up some unexpected things. That way, improvisation becomes very natural, and the show remains full of life,” Polunin says.
Polunin also founded the Academy of Fools — aka Slava’s Fools Unlimited — in the early 1990s to organize the Crazy Women festival dedicated to the rare phenomenon of female clownery.
Nowadays, his students do most of the work in Slava’s Snowshow.
“People are so focused on their careers, on their problems, on their incomes, that they no longer feel the taste of life. They have forgotten what it feels like to smell a flower, to listen to a bird’s song, to lie on the grass on a summer day staring at the sky for hours,” Polunin says.
“The main purpose of the Academy of Fools is to make sure that these pointless things do not disappear from life. We have a countless number of things of similar importance. And if we ever stop doing those things, people would drown in seriousness and loose the ability to smile.
“The happier you are yourself, the happier your audience is. I gather only happy people in my team. That is my secret.”