Mime is a silent art form that dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, and became popular in Italy before reaching France. French mime was refined by Jean Gaspard Batiste Deburau and later Marcel Marceau. Mime has two main types: abstract and literal, and American mime is different from the French version. American Mime was founded by Paul J. Curtis in 1952 and combines acting, playwriting, and pantomime dance.
Mime is the silent art of acting out a scene or expressing feelings with gestures and facial expressions. Although many people think of the French when they think of mime, mime as entertainment dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was then popular in Italy before it reached France, although it was so popular in France that schools were established and traditions of great French mimes followed. The modern American mime is very different from the French version.
Ancient Greek actors wore masks and acted out scenes of everyday activities and character-focused dramatic mimes called “hypotheses” in front of thousands of people at the Theater of Dionysus in Athens. The Romans brought this art form to Italy after conquering Greece. It arrived in Paris in 1811 with the arrival of the Bohemian Jean Gaspard Batiste Deburau, the son of a traveling acrobatic family.
Deburau remained in France and developed the ancient art of mime into the more refined and expressive modern version that still exists today. His most famous character was the sweetheart Perriot. Jacques Copeau, Charles Dullin, Etienne Decroux and Jean-Louis Barrault are well known in the art after the First World War.
The well-received 1945 French film “Les enfants du paradis” co-starred Barrault and Decroux and told the fictional story of Deburau’s work from its beginnings in Paris. The famous French mime, Marcel Marceau, was a pupil of Decroux. Like Duburau’s Perriot, Marceau’s character Bip was mostly down on his luck, but sometimes life worked out for him. Bip wore a flower on his top hat and a short coat. Marceau’s work included the influence of silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Marceau was highly original and masterful in the art form.
Mime has two main types: abstract and literal. Abstract mime often has no plot or main character, but rather is an expression of feeling used to provoke interpretive thoughts about a serious subject. Literal mime is often comedic or used to tell a story. Gestures and images show a clear and usually hilarious account of the conflict faced by the main character.
Many combinations of both types are possible, and pantomime movements are also common. Pantomime is the use of movement and gesture in telling a story, usually in a comedic manner and is a more literal type. The ancient Greeks and Romans used pantomime dances in their performances.
The 20th century saw mime being included in vaudeville, circuses and music halls. American comedians such as Dick Van Dyke and Red Skelton were famous for including it in their spoken word work. Paul J. Curtis founded the art form known as American Mime in 1952.
American mime combines acting, playwriting and pantomime dance and is very different from the French version. Curtis was struck by the French mime’s silent appearance, but he wanted the acting and dancing to be more pronounced. He is the founder and director of the American Mime Theater in New York City.
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