History of mime

The word mime comes from the ancient Greek word mimos, meaning imitation. However, the way we use the word today comes from the kind of mime developed in France over the last 100 years. Mime is one of the oldest forms of drama of all. Would you believe there have been mime performances in Australia for the last 60 000 years? Aboriginal corroborees, mimed the hunting of animals and catching fish, as well as the actual birds and animals.

In fact, every kind of drama in every country in the world has used mime as part of their performance based work.
Oriental Mime:

• This form of mime is found throughout Asia, particularly in China and Japan.
• Movement is used to tell stories, which are often based on folk tales and legends. Many of the stories are humorous, and some of the mime involves spectacular physical movements that are like gymnastics. When the mime tells a serious story, it involves slow, controlled, repeated movements that     follow a special sequence, as in Japanese Noh theatre.

Italian Mime:

• Italian mime comes from the Commedia dell’Arte style of theatre which developed in Italy in the 16th century and has influenced world drama since.
• Italian mime uses exaggeration to create humour with spectacular falls and near-misses and a lot of violence such as hitting, kicking and tripping that is so ‘over the top’ that it is funny rather than frightening. The characters are exaggerated as well, and the same types of characters appear in many different Italian mime stories such as a stupid policeman, a beautiful girl, a clever old man and a grumpy old man.
• The stories in Italian mime are not usually very important but instead focus on the funny characters in the mime scene. The influence of Italian mime can also be seen in circus clowns and silent movies from the 1920’s.
• Charlie Chaplin was one of the most famous and talented mime artists who used the Italian style of comedy mime with great skill in his performances.

French Mime:

• This is the most complicated form of mime – there are thousands of different movements which a mime artist must learn.
• The main focus of this kind of mime is a single character’s action s, but thoughts and feelings as well.
• French mime can tell a definite story but can also be completely abstract. It works on our imaginations and emotions, creating magical illusions which we recognize as people or stories or human experiences.
• Marcel Marceau developed French mime to its present level. He still performed around the world in his seventies!