Mime originated in ancient Greece as a form of silent performance in theaters without words using only gestures and movements. It gained popularity in ancient Rome and during the Renaissance period in Italy. Marcel Marceau was one of the most famous 20th century mimes who performed globally and helped popularize the art of mime. Today, mime continues to be performed and Rowan Atkinson is considered one of the best modern mimes.

1. BY ABISOLA ALAUSA

2. WHAT IS MIME? Information found: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&defl=en&q=define:mime&ei=l-RFS9r3KqD80wTU1tTvAQ&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAkQkAE Picture found: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&defl=en&q=mime&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi Mime is when a performer or an actor acts out a piece of drama without using words but with gestures and bodily movements only.

3. MIME started when there was no spoken language and MIME needed to be used so that people can communicate to each other. MIME started from the theatre of Dionysus in Athens. MIME later on became a form of entertainment after a spoken language was developed. Furthermore, mime truly became a theatrical entertainment form in ancient form. The scene that would be performed would always have a moral lesson. Information Found: http://www.members.tripod.com/~kiko_mime/history.html Picture Found: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK332&um=1&q=mime+acting&sa=N&start=21&ndsp=21&safe=active

4. Ancient Greek And Roman The theatre of Dionysus in Athens is when mime started to show some progress of entertainment in the Ancient Greek and Roman. In the honour of Dionysus (the god of theatre), there would be audiences of 10,000 or more in the a festival to watch masked actors performed in the daylight. Hypothesis (most elaborate of mime) may have reached the form of true drama. The drama would be performed by companies of actors who mostly concentrate on developing their characters than the plot itself. If there weren't enough actors to play each characters, often there would be one actor who would play the different roles of several individual in the production. The Western drama (starting from the Romans) have been influenced by the comedy and tragedy which developed in Athens and flourished in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The Greek art of mime was brought back to Italy and set to make their own when the Romans conquered Greece.

5. Greece was over taken by the Romans, with their love of spectacle, and going ahead to rebuild and renovate their own spectacle which included everything from pantomime to mock- naval battles. We can see the remains of the Theatre of Dionysus in the Athens today date to Roman times and not the fifth century BC. Under the Emperor Augustus of Rome, Mime enjoyed much success and development. Before the church began to relax its attitude, there was a fall of the Roman empire. The church showed great resistance to the bawdy, and time and again indecent associations of mime, and earlier period statement to all performers leading to theatres being shut down. After all the tragedy, the basic form of Mime survived. The anonymous and principles plays began to appear with religious themes, numerous performed in Mime. Information Found: http://www.members.tripod.com/~kiko_mime/history.html Picture found: http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&lr=&safe=active&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK332&tbs=isch:1&q=theatre+of+Dionysus+in+Athens&sa=N&start=21&ndsp=21&safe=active

6. Commedia dell' Arte The form of Commedia dell‘ Arte is when Mime continued to entertain through the Middle Ages, and it is known to reached its height in sixteenth century Italy. The streets of the Italian in the 1500 is where Commedia dell‘ Arte originated from. Commedia dell‘ Arte street performers began donning masks with exaggerated comical features In other to draw attention to themselves, and to get their acrobatic skills together. Zanni is the name of the character the street performers tenderly created. Commedia dell' Arte become a firmly established genre until two Zanni performers teamed up by 1550. The two characters (Arlecchino and Brighella) were Portrayed belonging to the serving class. The performing troupes were accessible to all social classes and was focus on having their subject matter to be always contemporary. The performing troupes wasn’t safe, even though they wear mask which conceal their identity. As luck would have it, the more trouble the troupes were in, the more admired and successful they became.

7. It is known that the troupes travelled away from their homeland and meaning that language was no barrier. It is known that the very Skilful led mime and Zanni antics that conveyed the story lines to audiences throughout Europe. Zanni style has been imitated from other performers from different countries to the fact that Zanni style has influenced them. The art of Mime became immensely popular in the 1576 because Flamino Scala led a company of Italian players to France. Many of the traditional gestures and figures, such as Harlequin, became familiar at this time. Information Found: http://www.members.tripod.com/~kiko_mime/history.html Picture Found: http://lhs.utma.com/drama/masks.jpg

8. THE BEST MIME PERFORMERS OVER THE YEARS Adam Darius Alejandro Jodorowsky Achille Zavatta Adrian Pecknold Bill Irwin Blue Man Group Buster Keaton Carlos Martínez Charlie Chaplin This are some of the best MIME performers over the years. Information found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mime_artist Adam Darius Alejandro Jodorowsky

9. Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau is one of the best Mime/Mime Artistry ever! Marcel Marceau was born in Strasbourg. Marcel went through a lot in the early years but he survived all the troubles, problems and disasters that came his was. Marcel Marceau (an excellent mime performer) performed all over the world to spread “the art of silence.” His passion for Mime was truly amazing as he was successful, truly known and was very respected every way he goes. He brought entertainment to the world we called Earth. It was a tragedy that Marcel Marceau died in his 80s (may his soul rest in peace) but he will be well remembered and his story would never be forgotten. He as influenced many performers who are successful today. Marcel Marceau made history to bring the entertainment to “the art of silence” to the world. Information Found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau

10. Marcel Marceau One of his Performance on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lF0XMCssG0&safe_search=on Pictures: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK332&q=marcel%20marceau&lr=&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi&safe=active Pictures from:

11. THE BEST MIME PERFORMER TODAY MR. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is truly known to be one of the best mime performer today.

13. Types of technology that has affected the development of Mime: Internet- people can now access to buy tickets in a faster and easier way Lighting/sound- lights and sound are now very important because they can create different atmosphere during the performances TV- TV as a big role because it advertises different performances that are coming which makes people buy tickets to watch the show.

14. Due to the credit crunch that started at the end of 2009 the development of mime and theatre has been affected effectively. This means that the theatre industry has a low budget of making big performances and the money they have does not cover all the expenses of costumes, crops, set design and performers etc. All the above problems about economic affecting the industry of mime is a very important issue that must be able to look at carefully to reach to an agreement of how they can improve the problems. But on the under hand, the theatre industry itself is causing economic issues due to the fact their prices of tickets for shows/plays are incredibly too high for people to buy. But if people buy their tickets then their money is dropping down.

15. Queen Elizabeth 1 st who ruled in the Elizabethan age affected the development of Mime because she promoted mime since the fact that she found mime to be extremely entertaining. She hired mime performers to entertain her court. This gave the art form new respect and dignity.

16. Social has definitely affected the art of mime. Reasons Mime has brought joy to families so therefore they invited people to come along and watch, which is very good for the industry of mime because as people invite other people they get more money as the audience keep coming.

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