Contemporary mime, evolving from the 1811 artistry of Paris acrobat Jean-Gaspard Baptiste Deburau and the ancient Greeks before him, is a theatrical medium or performance art that involves acting out a story through body motions, without the use of speech. The art can be split into two major types of mime – and then into different schools of style. want to learn more? keep reading.
Types of Mime
There are two basic types of mime: literal and abstract.
Literal mime is the best-known form. It tells a story, usually humorous, in such a way that the audience knows exactly how to interpret the plot. the actor will try to tell a story with a plot and characters, often in funny situations intended to elicit laughter from the audience.
Literal mime act is typically scripted in the mind of the performer or written out before performance. While it is always part of a mime performance to elicit emotion, this form has at least one character and a plot with a beginning, middle, and end.
Abstract mime, however, is different. Abstract mime attempts to call up feelings and thoughts, usually of a serious nature, from the audience. He/she focuses on provoking thought about a particular subject by expressing certain feelings or emotions. There is usually no plot at all, and gestures may be ambiguous. For example, the mime may portray the locking of a door to symbolize a loss of opportunity.
A skilled mime can combine literal and abstract techniques. With skill, even the most simple of plots can be acted out in such a way that conveys deeper meaning and thought.
Styles of Mime
There are three basic styles in the two types of mime: Oriental, Italian, and French.
The Oriental Style
Art similar to mime was first recorded as an art form called “hypotheses” in ancient Greece. The ancient actors wore masks and performed stories of everyday life for the audience, sometimes by the thousands. Roman and Greek pantomimes also integrated dance into their performances.
The Oriental style of mime is something that today will be on the border of “not being a mime at all”. It is very elaborate and includes the use of wigs, detailed makeup, props, and music. Usually, it involves the portray of characters familiar to the audience and may include exciting gymnastic movements.
The Italian Style
By the 1700s, mimes became part of what was called “entertainments,” snippets of performance before or after the main production, such as a play or concert. It was referred to as “panto,” and sometimes even combined Italian street-performance acrobatics with music and slapstick. This style was very strong on character development and storytelling and is a key representation of the literal mime technique.
The Italian school doesn’t require the use of elaborate makeup or props, but it is recognizable from its big, broad style and the use of BIG facial expressions, and gestures that are not so much realistic as exaggerated.
The slapstick humor of Charlie Chaplin and Sid Caesar and the sketches of clown Emmett Kelly are examples of the Italian style.
The French Style
French mime is the youngest of the three and the most likely to use both abstract and literal forms. Silent pantomime’s identity as a specific art form is credited to Deburau who brought melodrama and staging to the performance of mime. In 1923, another Frenchman named Jacques Copeau opened a theater arts school where he used the art of mime to improve the acting skills of his students.
Through the influence of such greats as Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Marceau, French mime developed into exciting art. Costumes and makeup became simple: often white facial makeup and black or white clothing. This is done to give the mime artist a neutral effect as well as make it easier to see his/her facial expressions, and the white full-face make-up is there to heighten the dramatic impact of the movements and expressions.
The French style attempts to mimic human gestures realistically. This requires a delicate balance, strict concentration, and much study. Early French mime was characterized by being somewhat grim and then evolved into movement theater where the emotion of all types is important and the plot less so.
Mimes often combine the Oriental, Italian, and French styles to create their characters.
Worth mentioning is the American style of mime, which is somewhat antithetical to the French mime in that it is more about playwriting in preparation for the performance, as character development is paramount and melodrama is downsized. It started in 1952 by Paul J. Curtis, American mime that also included dance, which had not played much of a role in French mime, back into the art form.
Read More: 13 of Your Strangest Mime Questions Answered