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| Sunday, 25 May 2003 |
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by Neomi Kodikara Evocative music fills the room. A tall, blond enters with a robot-like walk through the audience, to the cheering of the crowd. He prances round the stage playing some tricks with the audience, most of whom are kids. He is one of France's outstanding mime artistes, Christian Albouy whose performance gave a good evenings entertainment for those present at the Alliance Francaise, who were either locked in spellbound silence or roaring with laughter for one full hour through his act. Some of his gestures made one laugh, sometimes uncontrollably, one also admired his sensitivity to his themes grace and agility of gestures and vivid expressions. His tongue was silent, but the whole body did the talking through expressions as well as movements. It was wonderful how every muscle was called into play to convey the nuances of feeling. His performance at Alliance was highly improvised. He employed a method good for adults as well as for kids, both lively and cheerful. His performances involved everyday life situations which are not unknown to us. But at the demonstration one realised how difficult it was to mime them, even simple ones like holding a pole in the bus, picking a flower or eating a plantain. He applied the technique of forum theatre, that is getting close to the spectators and making them a party to the stories he mimed and the spectators at the Alliance were more than willing to do so. It was a means of deepening observation and improving movement and expression for the children, present. He showed them how to handle a simple expressive mime, occupational mime or a character mime. At the end he showed a voluntary couple from the audience how to perform Romeo and Juliet, which of course they did in an extremely funny and amusing manner. `Boredom' was one theme he performed which really made one involved in his acting. The lively sound track which accompanied the action throughout indeed set the mood. Born in Albi of South France, Christian `thinks' he is 45 years old now. His poetic character and good humour were evident during our short conversation. He has mastered contemporary mime clown, mask playing, commedia dell`arte and traditional pantomime under Ettienne Decroux, who was the Guru of Marcel Marceau, an undisputable master of mime art. "I think I was a born mime, even without knowing it. I began theatre at the age of 18. The revelation came to me through Decroux, who was my mime master. That is how my vocation crystallised. I then decided to become a full-time mime artiste." He has worked with very famous names in the theatre and teaches anybody with the desire and talent "kids, old people, mentally retarded, disabled - simply anyone." Albouy hates to use the tradition of white, pasty faced mime, popularised by Marceau and others. Apart from colourful costumes and bit of make-up his tools of art are his head, face, hands and legs which are used to demonstrate balance and control, emotions and gestures. Silence possesses a kind of conversation, when the story is mute we hear what we see, says Christian. He sees mime as a wonderful way of communicating, that breaks down language barriers. According to him it is a delicate skill, mastered only by those individuals gifted with the talent- the ability to demonstrate things physically using the body's maximum potential rather than depending on words. "Since you are deprived of vocal expressions, you have to be extremely precise and clear in your movement and expressions so that the intended message is conveyed to the audience without confusion." Acting techniques such as breathing, relaxation are required by a mime artiste. The techniques are quite important, he says, and the transformation of a message can be achieved through different breathing methods. The history of mime can be traced back to the fifth century where mime and pantomime represented Greek and Roman entertainment and the famous names of the day were Epicharmus (5 BC), Sophron (430 BC) and Herodus (3 BC). Modern Western mime developed into purely silent art whereby meanings are conveyed solely through gesture, movement and expression. In France it was further popularised into High Art of Pure Mime by Ettienne Decroux, Jean Louis Barrault and Marcel Marceau. Today in France it is at its height of popularity. However, sadly, these silent portrayals executed with grace, elegance and deceptive simplicity receive little attention here. |
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