Etienne Decroux (19 July 1898 Paris – 12 March 1991, Boulogne-Bancor) was a French theater actor and mime artist. He is known for his mime technique and school of thought called Etienne Decroux’s Corporeal Mime. Today, we will review some of his most famous sayings. Scroll down to see out pick of the top Etienne Decroux quotes.
About Etienne Decroux
Etienne Decroux studied at the Jacques Copeau School near the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris. After graduating he was accepted into the band of Charles Dullin, where he acted for many years. HAs a student of Charles Dullin, Decroux became interested in a new doctrine of pantomime and later developed a personal, original style of movement. His early style as a “statue-like pantomime” (Mime statuaire) was reminiscent of Rodin’s sculptures.
Later, more plastic forms were called “mime corporeal” or corporeal mime. An intellectual and theoretician, his body training was based in part on what modern dancers call “isolations”, in which body sections move in a prescribed sequence, and, in part, on the physics of compensation required to keep the body in balance when the center of gravity is shifted.
He wanted to enlist other students into a mime company, but the acting students were not very interested. When the Vieux Colombier closed in 1924, Decroux taught at the acting school of Charles Dullin, the Atelier. Jean-Louis Barrault also came to the school, and the two worked closely for two years, producing corporeal mime pieces individually and together.
Arriving in New York in or around 1957, M. Decroux held morning and evening classes at a studio on 8th Avenue and 55th Street. Students came and went but were required to commit to a full-time regime when rehearsing for a performance at The Mime Theatre of Etienne Decroux.
On his return to Paris in 1962, Decroux opened his school in Boulogne-Bancor, where he taught his ” Etienne Decroux Technique” almost until the day of his death. Many hundreds of students passed through this school and a new generation of mime artists continued its search.
Etienne Decroux Quotes
Here is the top Etienne Decroux quotes.
The idea of difficulty animates us all the time. We don’t want man to be an angel; we want him to be a hero. That is to say, a man like us, but who does extraordinary things. He jumps, yes, but in spite of the law of gravity. And everything he does is always ‘in spite of.’
Etienne Decroux
One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.
Etienne Decroux
When an actor … is lying on the ground, it is a whole nation lying down. And when he rises slowly up, you see the play of his muscles. After that he comes and goes, lifts things, throws them. He’s self-reliant man, and there’s his rapport with Promethean art.
Etienne Decroux
Mime is exemplary. It makes one want to do as it does. It makes one want to rise up.
Etienne Decroux
What man lacks most is will, constancy of will. Man works to earn his living, and when he finishes his day … He wants to sleep. He is lazy where public things are concerned. We let catastrophes come, we let them ripen. They don’t come because men want them to; they come because men want to sleep. ‘We can’t do anything about it. If it must happen, better not to know about it. Humanity has always been severely threatened. The threats are not diminishing. But one must sleep, after all. Sleep.’
But one can’t do mime while sleeping.
Etienne Decroux
Above all, the mime must want to say to men (because his muscles are working), ‘everything is possible. It’s will that’s lacking, not strength.’ Art should be exemplary. It’s almost condemned to be exemplary.
Etienne Decroux
Further Reading
Read more: Etienne Decroux Technique of Corporeal Mime
Book: Etienne Decroux, mime corporel (Les voies de l’acteur) (French Edition)
