A Right-Hand Troupe

In addition to these theatric and literary sources, every member of Marceau’s company has some training in dance as well, and this background is evident in the grace with which the cast members carry themselves onstage, regardless of specific attributes of character. The dance skills of the company are most explicitly displayed in the court dances of “The Masquerade Ball” and in the smoothly articulated unison movements of monks in “The Wandering Monk.”

However, Marceau and his company members insist that dance performances have a distinctly different impact on an audience than mime does. Company member Sara Mangano feels that mime expresses “the essence of the movement,” while dance tends to be more decorative.

Pierre-Yves Massip, another company member, likens the difference to the fine line between speaking and singing or between painting and sculpture. Marceau prefers to liken mime to writing, in the sense that both are about concisely creating poignant images.

While the first act of the show is a collection of Marceau’s previous solo creations, the second half is the product of an intensive collaborative process within the company. Development of these mimodramas began while Marceau was on a solo tour in Mexico; he presented concepts and story outlines to the rest of the company, then left them to fill in as much as they could before he returned. After weeks of discussion of how to adapt each tale for the stage and beginning to set staging, Marceau returned to direct.

The process remained collaborative, even with Marceau physically present. Massip notes that the considerably younger members of the company often view their source material quite differently from Marceau and that Marceau is always open to different ideas and suggestions, even while the show is on tour.

“But it is his company,” says Massip. “So he always has the last word.”

Although music is used in the performance, the company rehearsed almost entirely in silence, receiving the music composed for the show about two days before their first performance. Massip says that, like his teacher Decroux, he personally sings to himself in his head to keep the rhythm and timing of his movements but that the company members generally pay more attention to each other than to their musical accompaniment.

When he is not performing, Marceau teaches at L’Ecole International de Mimodrame de Paris Marcel Marceau, where the members of his company trained. All members of Marceau’s company were personally invited by Marceau to join his company during their third and final year of training.

Unfortunately, Marceau’s school will be closing at the end of this school year due to lack of funding, a reality that is greatly lamented by the members of Marceau’s company.

“Only three or four mime schools exist, and that’s not enough,” says Massip. “To not disappear, mime needs intelligent students.”

Massip believes that the reason most of the population does not see a distinction between mime and dance is due to lack of education and exposure. He says that since all actors express themselves through their bodies as well as voices, they are in fact using mime, whether they study it or not. Because all actors use this form of expression, he believes very strongly that speaking actors should study mime as well.

A Future for Mime

Although most of contemporary society might consider mime old-fashioned, Marceau believes that all art must be informed by the era in which it is made. He is very optimistic about the prospects of modern mime as an evolving art form, and he believes that the essence of art will always remain the same, despite superficial changes over time.

Mangano feels that the major obstacle preventing mime from continuing to flourish as an art form is a popular negative stereotype. “People see street performers and think that is what we do, and it’s not,” she says.