Marcel Marceau as the Contemporary Mime Spokesman

Abstract

The article is a sketch of the subject of mime, a theatrical form known since the ancient times, but nowadays existing in a new version. A contemporary mime that came into being based on the research of avant-garde theoreticians and practitioners of the early 20^th century theatre owes its current shape to the French artists such as Étienne Decroux, Marcel Marceau, and Jean-Louis Barrault. The presented concept of mime is based on Marceau’s theory and practice—both having a particular philosophical touch. Marceau who dedicated his life to promoting theory and methodology of contemporary mime by means of performances, interviews and teaching has become a mime expert whose work has a timeless quality worldwide.

These days mime is becoming a kind of theatre where silence plays the key role and becomes a new dimension of a human being when words fail, and where an actor-mime with perfect technical skills makes the invisible visible on stage

The article consists of two parts. The first part outlines a historical context of mime. It also tries to organize its terminology. The second one presents philosophical and technical aspects of contemporary mime on the basis of Marcel Marceau’s work.