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Philippe Gaulier (; 4 March 1943 – 9 February 2026) was a French professor of theatre, Dramatic theory, Pedagogy, and master clown. He was the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a French theatre school in Étampes, outside Paris. After studying under Jean Vilar and Alain Cuny at Théâtre National Populaire and then under Jacques Lecoq, Gaulier was an instructor at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Known for his "legendarily terrifying teaching style", he published The Tormentor ( Le Gégèneur), a book discussing his thoughts on the theatre and containing exercises designed to develop an actor's skill. Gaulier had a significant influence on British theatre, where his teaching inspired the creation of numerous theatre companies including the Théâtre de Complicité, as well as theatre companies throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Gaulier was known for performing in both clown and bouffon comic genres, in addition to his work as a playwright and director.
Emma Thompson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Roberto Benigni, Rachel Weisz, Simon McBurney, Geoffrey Rush, Kathryn Hunter, Yolande Moreau, Viggo Venn, Anthony Wong, and Mathew Baynton numbered among his students. Baron Cohen has particularly praised him for "helping understand how to be funny", and called Gaulier "the greatest living teacher of clown and modern theatre, and the funniest man I have ever met."
At 8 years old he was kicked out of school for punching his gymnastics teacher; he stated that he did not regret this as the instructor made students march as though they were in the army. Gaulier studied under Jean Vilar and Alain Cuny as a member of the Théâtre National Populaire. He had an ambition to be a tragic actor, but said he was laughed at every time he attempted to do serious work in drama school. He then began a class with Jacques Lecoq who trained him in clowning, improvisation, and mask work.
During the 1970s, Gaulier taught alongside Lecoq at L'École Internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where he disagreed with Lecoq's pedagogy and teaching style. Gaulier had never intended to become a teacher — "I was more or less a child of May '68... always I thought the teachers, they are like police" — and began teaching only because Lecoq asked him to: "I admired Jacques Lecoq. And I said yes." In 1980, after a decade of growing differences, Gaulier left to open his own school, École Philippe Gaulier, in Paris. When asked about pedagogical differences with Lecoq, Gaulier responded, "I did not want to accept his style, I did not like it. So after 10 years there I said, 'I'm going to do my own school.' If you see my students, you'll also see they have so many different styles that you can't say they come from Philippe Gaulier's school. I am happy with that. I don't give a style to my students. I want to give freedom, not my style."
In 2005, the school reopened back in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, until 2011, when it moved again, this time to Étampes, where it opened in summer 2011. Organized by Small Nose Productions, Gaulier returned to the UK once a year to run workshops at Trestle Arts Base in St Albans, Herts.
Gaulier always specified he offered training in theatre and not comedy.At the school, Gaulier taught classes in "le jeu", clown, bouffon, Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Molière, Georges Feydeau, melodrama, mask play, neutral mask, Greek tragedy, characters, Commedia dell'arte, and vaudeville.
The BBC show Newsnight covered Gaulier in 2015. In 2015, Rachel Weisz credited her Gaulier training as an influence on her performance in the Yorgos Lanthimos film The Lobster. That same year, Cal McCrystal reported to the BBC that he, "knew of no greater performance teacher ever". In 2016 The Guardian reported that Gaulier-trained' was a buzzword on many a comic's publicity". The New York Times reported in 2022 that Gaulier's "stature has grown in recent years". In 2026, Simon McBurney wrote that Gaulier "changed his life" and that Gaulier was known for offering something you could not get elsewhere. Also in 2026, Hong Kong film actor Anthony Wong claimed Gaulier "exploded his idea of what acting could be".
In 2022, Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton traveled to Paris and interviewed Gaulier for their Apple TV+ series Gutsy.
The school temporarily closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, and reopened in autumn 2020 for a delayed 40th anniversary in 2021.In 2022, Gaulier began to teach fewer classes and travel less, considering retirement, which he previously said he had no plans for. In 2023, Gaulier retired from teaching. For the school's 43rd Anniversary, École Philippe Gaulier was recognized with an award for "meritorious services in cultivating artists". In 2026, NPR reported classes at the school are now being taught by Gaulier's former assistants, graduates of the school whom he trained prior to his 2023 retirement.
In this sense he tried not to leave his own mark on his students, stating that he "hated the idea of lots of little Gauliers going out into the world". This approach notably differs from that of his teacher, the famous late master bouffon Jacques Lecoq, who is seen by some as a guru of modern movement-based theatre. "You can always tell a Lecoq student", Gaulier stated in 2001. "Too much emphasis on image." Gaulier was critical of movement-based theatre, saying of Marcel Marceau, "he's a maniac with his gestures". He was much more interested in impulse than movement analysis. However, both Gaulier and Lecoq stressed the importance of a performer's unique, individualistic connection with their audience.
To Gaulier the essence of clowning was to "find your idiot". When asked what he looked for in students on stage, he replied: "The eyes. He has the eyes of game or he has the eyes of funeral." He told his students to wear red noses because, he said, "when a student puts one on, I see better how he was when he was a child". He was highly critical of different dramatic theorists including Stanislavski and Jerzy Grotowski, writing, "We want to see actors enjoying themselves. We are not interested that you just buried your grandmother." Similarly, Gaulier held disdain for "the military, the church, hypocrisy, sham, inauthenticity, politicians, academics, and fascists," according to The Guardian. Gaulier wrote, "the theoreticians of the theatre (except Meyerhold and Bertolt Brecht) are all minus habens who prowl around universities hoping to hear a faint echo of their mental masturbations". Conversely, on the purpose of his teaching, Gaulier specified, "I hope I try to teach freedom. I hope. We never know exactly what we teach."
Central to Gaulier's teaching was the concept of "the flop" — the moment of failure on stage. Gaulier drew on his own experience: "When I entered to do tragedy and everybody was laughing, it was a big flop. But I learned so much." He told students: "The flop is a part of myself," and encouraged them to embrace rather than avoid failure: "It's good to have a crisis when you don't know what to do." Former student Aitor Basauri of Spymonkey recalled that during clown classes, after weeks of repeated failure, Gaulier would remind him of each successive flop before sending him back on stage, until the accumulated weight of failure itself became the breakthrough.
Gaulier had a "legendarily terrifying teaching style" according to The Telegraph. Utilizing a direct method of communication to his students, he taught via negativa, and was known for his intentionally insulting feedback. Gaulier used a drum to cue performers on an off the stage. Former student John Wright of theatre company Told by An Idiot has described his teaching as "open-heart surgery without Anesthetic". Gaulier said himself that he directly told underperforming students that they should not be actors, giving them a choice between changing or leaving his school. Sacha Baron Cohen described him in 2001 as "brutally honest", but also said that he "was so lacking in pretension that he made acting what it should be, which is fun". A Facebook group called "Philippe Gaulier Hit Me With a Stick" collected instances of these insults, including "You sound like overcooked spaghetti in a pressure cooker" and "You are a very good clown for my grandmother." These insults have been described as being able to dismantle the students' egotism, and as helping to build character.
In 2020, after meeting several of Gaulier's former women students who did not think they were good, Gaulier's former student turned clown teacher Deanna Fleysher wrote that his style did not work for many people, especially those who are marginalised and women, and that it was "macho, abusive, bootcamp-style Everyday sadism befitting frat houses and old-school military training". Gaulier rejected this later, arguing that his teaching worked equally well with women, that his criticism was "a game between the teacher and the student", and that his classes were still full. In 2026, Simon McBurney wrote that Gaulier's teaching technique created a dynamic where, "he was the teacher, you were the pupils", explaining "the relationship of power was offered as a structure to be undermined and shattered with laughter". Others praised Gaulier's for playing a "demon" character in his classes. Arab Muslims actor Randa Sayed said that in one lesson he told her to "Get off stage you Muslim slut"; she said that he did this in recognition of and to externalise the risks and dangers she would face as a Muslim performer, and that she had "never experienced more love from any teacher than Gaulier". He said that "we have to be politically correct but I've never been politically correct. I love to say horrible things – I get that from my mother. She was from Spain and the Spanish have a black humor. They say 'fuck you' to many people, the Spanish."
Actor Luke Rollason observed that Gaulier's training was also valuable for screen acting, noting that the emphasis on audience awareness and the performer's pleasure translated directly to film performance: "The screen acting that I find most intolerable is people who are really keen to show you what a good actor they are... I think people assume you have to go to a real psychological actor training. And I don't think it's necessarily the case."
Graduates have gone on to receive multiple Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Tony Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, SAG Awards, European Film Awards, César Awards, Olivier Awards, David di Donatello Awards, AACTA Awards, Lumière Awards, Goya Awards, Hong Kong Film Awards, Golden Horse Awards, Magritte Awards, Nastro d'Argento Awards, Molière Awards, Evening Standard Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Obie Award, Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and the Europe Theatre Prize. As well as top prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and the Berlinale.
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Alain Gheerbrant, Françoise Marthouret, and Sacha Baron Cohen penned prefaces to Gaulier's books.
Gaulier died on 9 February 2026, at the age of 82, due to complications from a lung infection.
On 18 February 2026, Gaulier's funeral was held at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. The Observer reported the "unconventional wake" had students in attendance "leaving flowers, red noses, and even a banana on his coffin."
At Gaulier's wake, The Man Who Waits for Freedom, a documentary film made in collaboration with Gaulier and Michiko Miyazaki Gaulier prior to his death, was screened for the first time. The title had been chosen by Gaulier himself. The film includes classroom footage, interviews with former students, and Gaulier's reflections on life and teaching. Subsequently, the school published the film online, describing it as "his last present". In the film, Gaulier offered a final message to his students: "Don't follow the teacher too much. Listen to the teacher... yes, but your passion, your life, your fun, your humour – it's your secret. So follow this secret."
Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton interviewed Gaulier for the first episode of their Apple TV+ series, Gutsy. In the episode, Hillary Clinton also participated in a clown class. Videos of Clinton interviewing Gaulier went Viral video on social media.
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