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MIME AS AN ACTOR TRAINING TECHNIQUE A PROFESSIONAL PROBLEM by DEBORA FAY DAVIS, B.F.A., M.F.A. A DISSERTATION IN FINE ARTS Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Accepted May, 1991 Copyright 1991 Debora Fay Davis ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee for their support with a particular debt of gratitude to Dr. George W. Sorensen for all of his guidance and direction in this project. I would also like to thank the students in my class who made this project possible through their hard work and patience. I would particularly like to thank my parents who have always been there when I needed them through the thick and the thin of it all. Thanks to you all for allowing me to work on a project that is very dear to my heart! 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Background of the Problem 1 Methodology 5 11 . MIME IN SEARCH OF ITS MARK 12 What is Mime? 12 A Brief History of Mime 28 III . THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE EXERCISE 45 The Body 48 The Arms 60 The Legs 72 The Complete Illusion 80 IV. THE MATURATION OF THE MIME 92 The Complete Mime 94 The Fantastic Mime 97 The Realistic Mime 110 The Improvisation 121 V. THE INTERDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION 128 The Interdisciplinary Philosophy 131 The Interdisciplinary Mime 139 iii VI . PROPS AND PECULIARITIES OF THE MIME 162 Costumes 165 Makeup 167 Silence 170 Masks 17 4 Props and Scenery 178 VII. THE MIME, THE MASK, THE MUSIC: THE FINAL PERFORMANCE 184 The Preparation 187 The Performance 194 VIII. CONCLUSION 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY 209 APPENDICES A. STUDENTS' JOURNALS 214 B. INSTRUCTOR'S JOURNAL 27 3 IV ABSTRACT In the area of actor training, young actors rarely receive carefully concentrated emphasis on the physical aspects of their acting curriculum. Many young actors receive little or no movement training at all. Most actor training is concentrated in the areas of "Method" acting, with an emphasis on the psychological scope of acting. Movement classes usually take the form of "styles" classes which develop limited movement skills utilized in particular periods and/or genres. Dance classes are often required to help actors in the areas of jazz, ballet, tap, and modern dancing to facilitate actors cast in musical productions. The area of actor training that is most commonly overlooked is the overall cultivation of bodily expression and control. Such an awareness of the method of communication through the body is addressed and developed by training in the discipline known as mime. This study was executed in a four-month class taught at Texas Tech University. The class provided seven students with basic mime skills aimed at enhancing their own personal acting skills through very disciplined and highly technical instruction. The class culminated in an interdisciplinary performance combining music, art, and mime. The goals of this study were to: (1) develop awareness of self through refined physicalization, (2) sharpen the ability to express ideas through movement, (3) cultivate better silent communication on stage, (4) increase confidence through better physical flexibility and the ability to adapt to different physical styles, and (5) help the actor to be more creative in the physical nuances involved in the creation of a character. This study provided already consummate actors with a basis for further exploration in the area of corporal discipline and flexibility. This area of work expanded their current skills and abilities to allow them to develop fully realized characterizations from the standpoint of both the "physical" and the "mental," and all the subtleties inherent in both. The class was successful in all of its objectives, and the performances displayed this success for an audience to see the development of the individuals involved. VI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION "The first idea that comes to the uninitiated, when you speak of body movement, is calisthenics."^ Background of the Problem In the area of actor training, young actors rarely receive carefully concentrated emphasis on the physical aspects of their acting curriculum. Many young actors receive little or no movement training at all. Most actor training is concentrated in the areas of "Method" acting, with an emphasis on the psychological scope of acting. Movement classes usually take the form of "styles" classes that develop limited movement skills utilized in particular periods and/or genres. Dance classes are often required to help actors in the areas of jazz, ballet, tap, and modern dance to facilitate actors cast in musical productions. Stage combat is also incorporated in most actor training programs for the sake of learning body discipline that prevents injury on stage while engaging in physical contact with fellow actors. The area of actor training that is most commonly overlooked is the overall cultivation of bodily expression and control. Such an awareness of the method of communication through the body is addressed and developed by training in the discipline known as "mime." The art of mime as a means for transforming the body into an expressive tool is often neglected in the process of actor training. The art of mime is "the art of creating the illusion of reality by the movements and positions of the human body."2 This illusion of reality is not unlike--and is in fact related to--the illusion of the theatre created by the actor, director, designer, and other theatre artists. It stands to reason, then, that the art of mime is essential in the training of theatre artists to further their ability to create the "illusion of reality." The actor uses his body to present the body of a character; thus, he would be considered the prime candidate for such training, although all theatre artists would benefit from such knowledge of bodily expres­ sion. This study suggests that young actors who are trained in mime are better equipped to express ideas through refined physicalization, as well as being adept at reading the body language of fellow actors in an attempt at better silent communication on stage. Trained mime artists are also more flexible and more confident on stage because they can adapt to various physical styles and genres from classical to contemporary, farce to tragedy, and everything in between. Mime can be further defined as "the art of characterization or of narration by body movement."^ The flexibility of mime also helps actors to be more creative in the physical nuances involved in the creation of such characters. The element of characterization involves more than what name a character has and which lines he speaks. To gain complete characterizations, the actor must be able to perform a wide range of transformations, both physically and often vocally. The same actor who can play a young child must be able to portray the aged, whether or not he is called on to do so. He must portray the human as well as the animal; oc­ casionally male as well as female; and young as well as old. The implications are obvious. The actor must be well rounded in terms of physical development. Even slight changes in roles from shy to brash or sad to happy require a knowledge of what the body is saying at any given time and the ability to change the body with that knowledge. Hence, the teaching of physical awareness is a necessity in any training program, and the incorporation of mime training would be a plus to any serious student of theatre. Education is not merely accumulation of facts nor the conforming of mind and body to certain formu­ lae. Education is the gaining of spiritual and physical poise whereby at every age from childhood to maturity we may be ready to learn the wisdom which is Experience. It seems that in mime we have the key to much that has baffled educational experts in the uniting of physical education with mental development.* The necessity for mime in a theatrical education process is a basic need that demands attention on many levels. Another great educational asset of mime is its pow­ er of rousing and keeping alive the imagination. I believe that a child's power of imagination, of seeing things as one complete picture, is a force which, mental and physical, is of infinite value in education, and one which we often fail to keep a- live after childhood.* The theatrical premise of imagination is one of the forces behind the art that drives its participants to perfect their craft. Mime is of great significance in both ac­ complishing a certain amount of excellence in the theatrical area of expression and inducing a higher level of imagination. The basis of all art must be technique and crafts­ manship. The craft of the bodily arts is as hard of achievement as is that of any technique. It is upon physical and mental control that this craft is, primarily, based. It is not, as some people think, just vaguely 'expressing things.' Mime is the subject which will link together dancing, act­ ing, general education and psychological develop­ ment. But the aim of mime is not a performance of certain physical exercises which can be welded into some kind of whole, nor is it merely 'gesture'-- gesture is one branch only. Mime is rather the training of the body and mind together to become an instrument of expression.^ The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of mime training in the actor development process and demon­ strate its effectiveness through the involvement of actors in a classroom setting.

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