| As a stand-alone art form, pantomime's popularity probably reached its pinnacle back in the 1970s. Currently, it's going through an unpopular phase. Mimes take a lot of heat, but you almost never hear them complain. See what I mean? It's easy to take potshots at what used to be a respected form of theater. But the skills that make up a classical mime's bag of tricks can be of tremendous use to an actor, who may be called upon in more traditional plays to tell a story through gestures, or simply trick an audience into "seeing" something that isn't there. Anyone who has played charades knows that clear, simple movements and gestures convey much more information than wild thrashings and gesticulations. You can use mime to create images in an audience's mind, or even tell an entire story. For example, imagine you are in a play, and your character has to come onstage as if walking in from a rainstorm. Even though you and your costume are completely dry, you can shrug out of your coat, shake imaginary water droplets from it, "dry" your face on a handkerchief, and then use it to "mop up" the puddle by the door. All this is done "in mime," because there never was any real water. But if done well, the audience would swear that there was. Onstage, I've opened doors that weren't really there, "flipped" a light switch that was painted onto a flat, been struck by a (thankfully) imaginary bullet, consumed non-exsistent coffee from imaginary cups and eaten an "air steak," all in plays that are considered representational or realistic. In Pioneer Drama Service's hit comedy "Twinderella," a baseball game is enacted onstage without a ball! These are all examples of using the skills of pantomime. The three most important rules to remember about using pantomime effectively onstage are: simplicity, consistency, and the "bump." Keep it simple. Complicated movements are confusing. Don't "muddy the air" with meaningless movements. Also, finish one movement before going on to the next. Once an imaginary object is established, make sure that it remains there until moved. If you set a "cup" down in one place, be sure to pick it up again in the same spot. Otherwise the audience will think there are two cups on the table. I've seen shows using imaginary doors, where the door knob magically moves up and down, depending on the height of the actors. Be consistent. Finally, there's "the bump." When you pick up a real cup, your fingers simply wrap around it. But with a mimed cup, you very slightly exaggerate the grasp, the lift, the setting down and the release. It's a series of visual punctuation marks. This helps the audience recognize the moment of contact, beginning of movement, end of movement and letting go. Every actor could benefit from some training in pantomime, even if you never intend to mimic passersby or blow up an invisible balloon. Remember, "mime's" the word! |
