Join master Mask Maker, Gonzalo Villareal Porzio, for this two-day workshop to explore how the Larval Mask and Clown illuminate one another. The Larval Mask trains deep listening with the whole body. It develops physical awareness and gives shape to emotion through the body. From there, we'll gradually let the clown emerge as a playful state born from simplicity.

Larval Masks suggest characters, emotions, and worlds, but only in their larval state: full of potential, never fixed. Their simplicity encourages clarity rather than complexity, reminding us that less can reveal far more. Their scale calls for bold, generous physical play, reconnecting us with a fundamental theatrical impulse: to play together, to discover together, and to create meaning through relationship.

The themes we explore with these masks are simple and open-ended. They have no visible openings for the performer to see-yet the mask itself sees. This apparent limitation invites us to awaken our spatial awareness and discover new ways of perceiving, moving, and responding. The whole body becomes the instrument of listening.

From this foundation, we'll explore how these same qualities become the basis of clowning. Rather than treating Clown and Larval Mask as separate techniques, this workshop explores the dialogue between them, offering performers a deeper understanding of both.

Clown and Mask
Saturday 31 October & 1 November 2026
10am - 5pm
The Spark Space, 138a Church Road, Bristol, BS5 9HH

£200 - Supporter/ High earner
£185 - Full Price
£170 - Concession (low/no income, student)

EARLYBIRD DEAL:
£160 if you pay before 30 September

"CLOWN AND..." WORKSHOP BUNDLE
Clown and Mask
Clown and Shakespeare
Clown and Tragic Chorus
All 3 workshops - £455 (save £145)

Email [email protected] to book a place

Gonzalo Villareal Porzio is an Argentine theatre director, actor, pedagogue and mask maker based in Vilnius, Lithuania and is the founder and artistic director of El Cuarto de Meme Teatro.