Bouffon is a French theatrical performance that uses mockery as its main element. It originated from opera buffa in the 17th and 18th centuries and was modernized by Jacques Lecoq in the 1960s. Bouffon involves scathing remarks, a brisk pace, and everyday settings to connect with the audience. It is considered a unique technique that stands on its own merits.
A bouffon is a type of performance in French theater that focuses on using mockery as the main element of the performance. Performers who engage in this particular theatrical expression are sometimes known as bouffons or jesters. The term itself is actually a variant of an older term used in times gone by to describe the style of entertainment associated with some forms of comedy.
The roots of bouffon are often traced back to the development of opera buffa during the latter part of the 17th and early 18th centuries. As a form of musical comedy that made use of operatic settings and general performance styles, bouffon relied heavily on the use of local dialects, settings that included elements common to the audience, and a fast pace. A successful bouffon in this setting needed precise diction in order to deliver fast-paced dialogue and keep the performance fast-paced.
Jacques Lecoq is credited with coining the contemporary ideal of the bouffon. During the early 1960s, Lecoq explored a wide range of comedic strategies that included farce, satire, slapstick and burlesque. Incorporating the common elements of opera buffa into these other comedic approaches led Lecoq to create a highly entertaining type of mockery, laden with satire and irony, and moving at a frenetic pace, making it ideal for the experimental mood. present in much of the artistic efforts of that decade.
Working a bouffon involves using many of the same skills and strategies used by comic performers throughout recorded history. The scathing remarks associated with court jesters in medieval times are present in bouffon work. A brisk pace, as often seen in vaudeville comedy routines, is also part of the performance. The use of everyday settings and events helps to connect this comic approach to the audience, as the comedy arises from situations they can easily identify with. Ample physical gestures as well as snappy dialogue delivered in clear but specific dialects help round out the basics of this approach.
There are those who consider the modern bouffon performance to be more a derivative of many of the approaches to comedy that have emerged since the early 20th century. While acknowledging the influence of these different schools of comedy, advocates note that the bouffon today makes use of these elements borrowed from other types of performance in unique ways. This, according to supporters of this comic art form, confirms that this art form emerged as a specific technique in its own right and is able to stand on its own merits.
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