1. By Sabrina Ali 10Y

2. What is mime?
Mime is a performance were the actor only uses gestures and facial
expressions. Mimics don’t talk and mostly use sound or music. They
hardly use real objects but if they do they use very few maybe only
one.

3. Where did it
begin?
Mime came from sign language and evolved into entertainment. Mime began in western Rome and Greece. Every year
Greeks had a festival to celebrate their God DIONYSUS. He was the God of the wine, fertility and celebration. The
Greeks held performances were the people competed each other, one had to be a ‘tragedy’ and one had to be a
‘comedy’ this is were the sign for drama came from. They were worn because the stages in the past were outside and
the carved out the seats in mountains. The actors had to were these masks which were very big so the audience at
the back could see what is going on. They also had to use exaggerated movement so the audience could see.

4. Religious Plays
When drama later arrived in the UK in the Middle Ages the
performances gradually became vulgar. The church which made
a lot of decisions at the time became very strict about storylines.
The church therefore had many of the performances done as
part of its religious ceremonies. However, the people soon got
bored of these religious performances in Latin, a language the
common man did not know. As a result the plays soon left the
church again, giving rise to the three earliest forms of British
plays: Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays.

5. Different types of
Religious plays
Mystery plays based on Bible stories were popular. Clergymen were the
actors. Each presentation was broken up, and staged all over town. One stage
was located right outside the local church. Another scene might be staged in a
wagon that was pulled through town. Some scenes were placed in different
parts of town. The audience moved from stage to stage. The mystery plays
were quite fun and very well attended by commoners and nobles alike. The
stories included the Birth of Jesus, The Wise Men, and the Flight Into Egypt. It
should be obvious what Miracle and Morality plays were about.

6. Seats
Where the audience sit.
Greek Theatre
Skene - Main stage
Where the actual performance takes place.
Orkestra -Chorus
This is were a group of people stood to
narrate the play
so the audience can understand what is
going in.

7. Social
Factors
- People performed to become famous and to entertain everyone. This is an event for
everyone to come and join in. mimes have become part of cultural identity of some regions like
France and are a main feature in many festivals.
Technological - Back in the days before technology was invented the
performers used man made noises. For example a group of people standing at the Okestra would be
the voice of one character so people at the end of the outdoor theatre would be able to hear.
Where as now people use microphones to project their voices.
Economic - Theatre was very demanding industry and so people performed for money. It has
provided jobs for many creative people. Mime is one area of drama that needs more funding from
the government to develop further.
Historical - Theatre was unknown and most people dismissed it in the Tudor times. Queen
Elizabeth wanted to help promote theatre so she invested money in theatre because she was very
passionate about it.

8. Some of the best
mime artists?
Charlie Chaplin was one of the most best mimics of our
time or ‘silent’ movie star. he was born in 1889 and died
1977. He was best known for his character, the naive and
lovable Little Tramp. The Little Tramp. He wore raggedy
suit with cane. Charlie was born in England and then
toured in America and stayed there filming in the early
19th century television was really basic. It must have
been really difficult to make things funny. So what Charlie
did was use bold, wired movement and exaggerated
emotions so people understood and recognized what he
was feeling.

9. French & Mime
Mime became very popular around Paris in the 1800’s. there was quit a few very
famous mime artist in France such as Marcel Marcaeu, Etinne Decroux Jean
Louis Barrault and many more. The new wave of theatre in France (1930-50)
were very focused on physical theatre and used mime as a tool for research,
training and productions. Soon mime became a ‘FRENCH THING’
(synonymous to France).

10. Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was born 22 March 1923 in Strasbourg,
France and died 22 September 2007. He was a very famous
mime artist who was born in France and most of his
performances were there to. Marcel was only a teenager when
WW2 and fled with his family to Limegos. Marcel and his
brother changed their last name to ‘Marceau’ soon after their
father (kosher butcher) was arrested and taken into a
concentration camp. The two brothers joined the French
Resistance in Limoges, where they saved numerous children
from the race laws and concentration camps. Marcel started
miming as a way of keeping the children quiet.
Once that war was finished Marcel became a student in
Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art, in the Sarah
Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where he studied with teachers
like Joshua Smith and the great master, Étienne Decroux, who
had also taught Jean-Louis Barrault. Marceau joined Barrault's
company.

11. Etienne Decroux
He studied at Jacques Copeau's Ecole
du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the
beginnings of what was to become his
life's obsession, Corporeal Mime.

12. Jean Louis Barrault
Jean was also a French mime, actor
and director who studied mime with
Etienne Decroux. Over his career,
he acted in nearly 50 French
movies including Les beaux jours,
Jenny, L'Or dans la Montagne and
Sous les Yeux d'occident.

13. Some of the best mime
artists NOW?
Mr. Bean is a very famous
English mimic played by
Rowan Akinson. But the
difference with Mr. Bean is
that he performs in a set
with objects . Mr. Bean
doesn’t talk so that is
related to mime and he
always has exaggerated
facial expressions so
people understand his
feelings.

14. Mimes costume
Mimes mostly wear black and white clothes. Make up is an essential element of
the mime ‘look’ and to complete it, white face paint has to be applied. Black
colored lip paint and other colored face paint can be applied for making the
mime attractive.

16. Bibliography
• http://www.members.tripod.com/~kiko_
mime/history.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmaste
rs/episodes/charlie-chaplin/about-the-
actor/77/
• http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/plays
.html