Being part of the audience.

Anna in the Tropics

A poster for "Anna in the Tropics"

I was running late. Rushing out through the campus I felt that excitement of getting to see the live performance. It has been a while since I went to a theatre, so the opportunity to go to a live performance was very pleasant, not to mention that it was happening right on my campus.

As I was getting closer to a theatre and saw two old ladies standing by the entrance and collecting tickets, a smile appeared on my face. The theatre begins right here for me.

I went through the open doors and immediately saw the seats, the stage, and decorations. I could smell the theatre. It has this dusty yet sweet smell that not even movie theatre can imitate. To my surprise the audience was full. I stood right in the middle for searching a better seat. I wanted to have the best seat in front of the stage in order to be able to observe everything during the play. And then I found one.

While waiting for the play to begin my eyes start wondering around. I have noticed how diverse the audience was. Before my arrival I was so sure that I would see only students in the audience, but to my surprise there were husbands with wives, elderly citizens, and just people who came alone like me. We were all different in so many ways…the age, ethnicity, occupations, and maybe social levels, but there was one thing that engage us, one thing that connect us tonight. We all came to watch the play “Anna in the Tropics” directed by Walter Kmiec. We were one big community.

The performance begins with a song by Buena Vista Social Club “Chan Chan”.  People in the audience stopped talking or using their cellphones, everyone got silent. Through the entire play we all respond like one organism. We laughed together if characters on the stage said or did something funny. We held our breaths together if someone in the play cried or suffered from pain.

I realized how beneficial the small stage was. I was loosing the notion of being outside of the play and feeling instead the strong participation in the story. I saw every detail of the costumes and make-up, even the sweat appearing on actors’ faces. The smell of the hair spray reached my nose.

There is always a bit of a sadness coming into your heart once the play ends. It feels that now you have to go back to your own reality and play that “you” role, but the only difference in your play is that you have no director who tells you what and how to perform. You have no script to refer yourself if you forget something while “practicing”.

While driving back home I could not stop thinking about the characters I was with for almost two hours. I was comparing my life to theirs as they were comparing their life to “Anna Karenina”. These two hours of live performance gave me the incredible energy and part of this energy was coming from the audience I have shared this experience with.

Modern Mime

      Modern Mime

         μίμος

Mime is the earliest self-expression tool. Before people could speak they would use mime to communicate with another’s. After language was developed, mine has become a form of art.

The origins of mime art are found in Greece and it was separated into several categories, it rarely alienated from dance and speaking theatre. However, Romans took over the existing art and start renovating into their love of spectacle, which included everything from pantomime to mock-naval battle. They disengage the dance and speech to give the birth of, what was call the pantomime. Roman pantomime involved improvisation, such as burlesque scenes, portrayed current events, and themes of love, adultery, and mocking of the gods.

After the fall of the Roman empire, the Christian churches closed all the theatres including the mime associations. Only the basic form of this art survived. It continued to amuse through the middle ages, and reached it’s height in sixteenth century in Italy, such as Commedia dell’Arte.

But let’s not go to deep in there and focus on modern mime. In 1811 Jean Gaspard Batiste Deburau, a member of famous Bohemian family was performing at the Funambule on the Boulevard du Temple. He performed in this theatre till his death. Deburau is considered as the main creator and master of mime. The famous “Pierrot” was created by Deburau. He converted the crude slapstick form of Mime, to the art form that is known today.

Soon after the Second World War, Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) appeared. He created in 1947 his own character  “Bip” with  his famous short jacket and a hat with a flower sticking out. There is a similarity between the Pierrot and Bip such as white make-up face, and dramatic appearance on the stage.

However, Marceau was the  true builder of modern mime as we recognize today. His performance was limitless. His character Bip was his alter ego.





References

The Origins and Development of the Art of Mime. 1996-2010.  http://www.mime.info/history-lust.html.

The history of Mime. Billy Krahl 1996. http://members.tripod.com/kiko_mime/history.html

Felner, Mira. Orenstein, Claudia. The World of Theatre. Tradition and innovation. Pearson and AB.

One of the latest performance of Marcel Marceau.

Zeami Motokiyo

The origins of the noh theatre is coming from playwrights/actors Kannami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384) and his son Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) performed for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), who was the ruler of all Japan at that time. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was so amazed by their performance that he gave the highest social status to both actors. Zeami wrote many plays which are still performed today and he was called the father of noh theatre.

Noh theatre was developed in 14th century in Japan and was influenced by Chinese performing arts such as sarugaku, which includes music, dancing and sometime juggling. Also traditional Japanese dance called dengaku (rustic music) which was used during rice planting and harvesting time. The word "Noh "means Buddhist and it refers to a mental state of mind between performers and the audience. The play is usually performed by male actors wearing masks. The movements of actors are very slow and deliberated. The gorgeous costumes makes an incredible impression on the audience. The main character always appears from darkness and slowly walks to the center of the stage accompanied by flute and drums. The stage itself is made from the cypress-wood and has the painting of a pine tree on a back of stage, which indicates the world of a spirit.

This picture shows us the traditional stage of noh theatre. The members of the choir are seating in the back of the stage and the main character is performing right in the center. The costumes have at least 5 layers of fabric and exquisitely embroidered.

5D markⅡ × 能面

On this beautiful video we can cappture a uniqe moment of noh actors preparing for the performance. The whole process not only includes putting on cosumes, but also to get the right state of mind for the play.