Slapstick Comedy: Choreographing Chaos with Joe Dieffenbacher

Slapstick Comedy: Choreographing Chaos with Joe Dieffenbacher takes place on 13 November 2026. Venue: Hanover Community Centre, Brighton and Hove.

About the workshop In this workshop you have the opportuniuty to: Explore slapstick techniques such as how to trip, slip, slide and stumble in eccentric ways. Change the way you think about problems: they’re opportunities for comedy and character development. Find both broad and subtle ways to play with slapstick. Disover how to use accidents to create comic moments, reveal your character, and get laughs. Learn how slapstick comedy can generate new ideas with props, costumes, and the playing space. When you mention the word slapstick, most people think it’s an abusive form of comedy where clowns slap, punch and kick each other, throw pies in someone’s face, or get hit with boards. In essence, slapstick is how the human body responds to the real world in comic ways. This can include hits and falls, slaps and pies, but also more subtle slapstick where the clown plays with props, clothes, furniture, sounds, colours, shapes. It includes everything from the knockabout and anarchy of the Three Stooges and the Young Ones, the classic physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the visual and verbal slapstick of Monty Python, the mad invention of the set designers for Mischief Theatre and the ‘Goes Wrong’ shows, and the more subtle prop play of Jacques Tati. Slapstick is a form of dance. It’s a way of moving off the beat. It searches for eccentric ways of interacting with the world, it welcomes mistakes and finds playfulness in awkwardness and misunderstanding. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to use slapstick to develop comic scenes and characters. About the teacher Joe Dieffenbacher is an actor, director and teacher working in theatre, film, circus, comedy, puppetry and clown. He was Physical Theatre Director for productions at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Circus Skills Director with the Scottish National Opera, Master Teacher at Clown Conservatory-San Francisco and the Dell’Arte School in California. He's worked with pop sensations Take That, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Holiday on Ice, Disney, and tours with his own company, nakupelle. Joe has produced a film series on YouTube on How to Learn Slapstick, and is the author of CLOWN The Physical Comedian and DRAMA GAMES for Clowning & Physical Comedy. For more info visit http://joedieffenbacher.com