Planeta klaunów w konstelacji Słońca
The Planet of Clowns in the Constellation of the Sun

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the varied functions and ways of application of the clown and circus motifs in the more than 54-year-long history of the Théâtre du Soleil. Clowns have passed into the theatre of Ariane Mnouchkine from the “sources” of her theatre inspiration: from Oriental forms, commedia dell’arte, and fair spectacles, from the pedagogic practice of Jacques Lecoq as well as from the space of the abandoned Montmartre (former Médano) circus, where the Thèâtre du Soleil, homeless back then, set the action of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968). The motif of a circus tent reappeared later on in the Molière film (1987) as well as in a mature production of the company, Les Éphémères (‘Ephemera’) of 2006. The clown provided structure for one of the most significant of Mnouchkine’s productions in the history of the Théâtre du Soleil, the first group creation, Les clowns (‘The Clowns,’ 1969). In later productions, clowns reappeared as constitutive elements of the world represented on stage in two guises: as jesters in glimpses of the revolutionary cabaret in Mephisto (1979) and as a kind of buffer introducing new qualities of experience in the instalments of the Shakespearean cycle (Richard II of 1981, Twelfth Night of What You Will in 1982, and Henry IV of 1984), complementing the tragedy and broadening the meaning of comedy. A similar function can be identified in the production of Macbeth in 2014 (the monologue of the Doorkeeper performed by Eve Doe-Bruce). Apart from that, a clownish trait can be said to be one of the most significant reference points in the title roles of Hendrik Höfgen in Mephisto, Richard II in Shakespeare’s play and Sihanouk in The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia (1985) and, though in another dimension, in Macbeth.In each instance, the personages of clowns in performances of the Théâtre du Soleil broaden the dimensions of the world represented on stage; revealing its complexity and opacity, they become signs of pure theatricality and expose to view numerous paradoxes that can be seen at the individual, social, and transcendent level.

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