Mimes

If performed properly, mimes have the unique capability of driving anyone crazy. What they lack in vocals, they more than make up for in visual humour.

From the mechanical man thru leaning on the mantle to escaping a box, the French mime has entertained us with variations on this theme for hundreds of years.

Mimes often utilize the audience within their performances. They mimic the passersby's gate and other charactersitics of the unsuspecting public.

Schools for mimes take form of theatre and arts in colleges and universities around the world.

The busker Marcel Marceau has been universally acclaimed as the world's greatest mime. He was born in Strasbourg, France. Marceau's interest in the art of mime began at an early age when he would imitate with gestures anything that fired his imagination. Later he discovered such silent screen artists as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, and Laurel and Hardy. His admiration for these great actors inspired him to pursue the art of silence as a profession.

Marcel Marceau's creation of a new art form is inherited from an old tradition of French mime. His silent exercises, which include such classic works at The Cage, Walking Against the Wind, The Mask Maker, and In The Park, and satires on everything from sculptors to matadors, have been described as works of genius.

Click the links below for more information on those magical mesmerizing mimes.


Mime Over Matter

Mimes Gallery