Stir Q&A: Ideas Bobert's Candice Roberts spills the beans on the emotional awareness of clowning
The feature show at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival explores hope and failure through a playful character’s old-school world of big-band music, silent film, and tap dance
Candice Roberts, who created the show Ideas Bobert, specializes in a type of clowning that is rooted in presence and connection—connection with yourself, your environment, and others.
Vancouver International Children’s Festival presents Ideas Bobert June 4 and 5 live online from 1:30 to 2:15 pm. A pre-recorded video is available for viewing from June 5 to 13.
IDEAS BOBERT IS described as a cross between Ginger Rogers, Mr. Bean, and the Muppet Show, but the performance by Candy Bones Theatre artistic director Candice Roberts goes deep into themes everyone can relate to—like picking yourself up after failure.
A feature presentation at the 2021 Vancouver International Children’s Festival, the all-ages show features shadow puppetry, stop-motion animation, movement, live music, and vintage silent-film styling. Bobert is playful, hopeful, proud of his ideas, and loves to dance.
Stir connected with Roberts to hear more about her pathway to clowning and how Ideas Bobert isn’t just for kids.
What is your theatre background?
I have a history of wig-wearing character shenanigans since I was a crumb-snatching curtain-climber knee high to a gnat!
But seriously: My theatre career began by putting on shows for my parents and any/every guest that might come by. Nobody told me that I could grow up to be a theatre artist so I got a j-o-b and tried to learn the guitar
In my late 20s I met a woman who was a clown. I was floored by her sense of presence and ease of expression; she would laugh and cry and roll around on the ground. My word… I could never… But oh so longingly I wanted to feel that freedom I sensed.
Soon after meeting this woman (who has since become my performance sister of nearly 20 years) I started meeting some other folks who had also studied this “clowning” with a teacher named David MacMurray Smith. After a failed attempt at taking this course—I dropped out before it started because I was afraid—I finally completed it in 2007. The course is called “Character Development and Personal Transformation through Clown”, and is the best thing I have ever done for myself.
This particular type of clowning is based in presence and connection—connection with yourself, your environment, and others. As you can imagine, self awareness, including emotional awareness and physical awareness, is key. The clown acknowledges everything—inside and out, what is happening and what is not happening.
Since this first course, I have gone on to study Deep Clown, a performance-based intensive with the same teacher and also have sourced out other teachers and mentors to work with. I have worked extensively with Deanna Fleysher in Bellingham and Jan Hendersen in Alberta and of late I’ve been studying a more technical approach to physical comedy and comedy writing with Virginia Scott in New York City.
Throughout this time, I was a founding member of the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, performing and writing, devising, and choreographing in four different large-scale productions. I am also a part of the Myrtle Sisters, a three-part harmony singing trio of theatrical antics.
Who is Bobert?
Bobert is hope in the face of failure personified—which has become a sort of definition I use for the “What is clown?” question. Bobert never gives up hope, yet continues to fail, and fail, and fail. He has his systems and his routines and a lot of really dumb and fun ideas that follow a sort of magical clown logic.
He’s a mover, not a talker. Bobert explores communication creatively, in ways other than words.
You describe your work as not specifically for kids but for the young at heart. Can you tell us more about how your theatre appeals to all ages?
Before I learned to read, I could recognize the words Muppet Show in the TV guide. This Muppet universe has informed pretty much all of my work. I love how they create layers of understanding, where the grown-up laughs just sail over the younger folks’ heads.
Ideas Bobert wasn’t specifically devised for little ones, and I’ve found that the nature of his character in its innocence, wonder, and silliness can appeal to all ages. As does his old-school world that utilizes a record player, a rotary phone, swing and big-band music as well as tap dance.
On its surface, the show can simply be a fun and delightful experience, but its metaphors run deep. Bobert’s heart is an actual bird that lives in his chest. How does he need to care and listen to this bird? What happens when his heart wants something that scares him, like making his own music?
Have any of the themes or messages in Ideas Bobert taken on new or different meaning in the face of the pandemic?
The general themes and messages of self expression and creative communication are basically the same for Ideas Bobert within the face of this pandemic; however, the way in which this show will be played has changed massively.
I’ve performed this show for thousands of kids pre-pandemic and it is a very interactive experience. Connection is key. Bobert doesn’t use words, but he is always checking in with the audience to see if what he is about to do is a good idea. He gets a lot of prompts from the audience, and part of the mastery in the work is about guiding the audience to feed the appropriate ideas to Bobert. Kids will speak up to express ideas such as “You have to listen to your heart, Bobert!”
Throughout the pandemic I have been exploring “clowning for film”, which I have concluded that perhaps one can call it physical comedy or comedic, but I think “clown” might need an audience.
I worked through zoom with Virginia Scott in NYC specifically for this experience of IDEAS BOBERT being filmed with no audience. She told me about when the Marx Brothers shifted from stage to film, their timing was weird for the first couple of films because they were holding for laughs.
So without an audience, I have a new approach which leans into the physicality and an internal awareness of my own rhythm and timing. Yay! New skills!
What else would you like to share about your work?
I am passionate about creative communication and the importance of self expression as a pathway to mental health.
I was a very expressive yet shy child who grew up not trusting my own spoken words. I found many different ways to express my thoughts and ideas—always creating: drawing, making costumes, dolls, puppets, forts, songs, stories, dance—yet I was afraid of failing, so I did a lot of this for myself or by myself, never sharing my process, only sharing a perfected finished version of something
As I grew up, I was conditioned that I must forget all of that creativity and get a good J-O-B. In all seriousness, I became very depressed for about 15 years. Finding my creative community and going to clown school was the beginning of a new life for myself.
I learned how to fail and fall and fall with flair. I learned that success is failing and trying again. I learned to trust my own impulses, but first of all I learned to hear them in the first place. From here I began to investigate the underbelly of myself and society. What irks me, confounds me? Where is this shame coming from?
Within this exploration comes the most meaningful and daring work. I recently developed a Theatre for Young Audiences about the art of failure called OOPSIE!
For more information about Ideas Bobert, visit Vancouver International Children's Festival.
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