For more than two centuries, the history of mime has unfolded in front of theater enthusiasts and artists across the globe. Every individual who enjoys the theater would certainly love to know the role that mime plays in the complex acting world.

The mime in the modern times have began to evolve after World War I when a genius, in the person of Jacques Copeau, has created an organization to help new and upcoming actors to learn the basics of mime. The Vieux-Columbier school has become the new home of modern mime with a few students under Copeau’s direction. This class included Charles Dullin and Etienne Decroux – both brought mime to a new level as they developed various elements to this art.

After World War II, Marcel Marceau began his career taking into consideration what he has learned from Dullin school. The special character that Marceau has created was in the form of a clown named Bip. It appeared comical with its appearance having a hat with a flower sticking out and a short jacket. Bip was adored by many audiences around the world as its character was made to relive the life that people encounter each day – sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t!

The modern mime industry has been highly presented on various media such as on stage, on television, and on film. As mime reached the acting industry of the United States, silent films began to receive a lot of recognitions. The new style of acting created a new tradition in the world of modern film and television. As American mime actors developed and continued to evolve mime acting, the eclectic blend made it more interesting. It also allowed artists to experiment to find the technique that would best suit their talent and entice their audience.

More so, mime was also divided into main facets: the literal, abstract, and the combination of both. When talking about literal mime, it is about the use of comedy for the theater. Literal mime unfolds stories that evolved around the life of the main character. Since the story was told exclusively through actions, the visual presentation was made to become extremely humorous and enjoyable for its audience.

The use of abstract mime encouraged artists to become more at ease with their character as it requires them to generate the feelings and ideas on a very serious issue. With this kind of performance, mime artists work in groups without any definite character that the story would be created upon. It is highly concentrated on a specific topic wherein artists need to present visual images and cues to portray the main idea.

In putting literal and abstract mime together, an entire performance drives creativity into the artist. Modern mime truly encourages artists to combine various techniques and experiment based on what an actor is capable of doing. Like any other form of art, modernization has provided plenty of room for improvement for the mime industry making it better for future artists to enjoy, experiment on, and most importantly, improve.

One of the earliest means of expressing an idea or thought is through actions. Similar to the basic philosophy of mime, spoken language seems to be the final option in the earlier days when communicating with other individuals. For generations, mime has started to become a form of expression and entertainment for many people. It originated in Athens, Greece specifically in the Theater of Dionysus where more masked actors would perform for audiences of more than ten thousand people at a time. Most of these theatrical mime performances were held at special dates and festivals to give honor to the god of theater, Dionysus. Most of the plays being held in Greece were created to be performed in front of audiences to entertain and to teach good moral lessons. With this initial principle, the mime actors are given the challenge to extend their feelings and thoughts to audiences using elaborate gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. When the rule of Emperor Augustus of Rome began to unfold, mime acting also began to emerge and become more recognized. The world of acting was given much attention to the enjoyment of a lot of actors because of the availability of work and the ability to perform for many audiences more often than in the past. Mime actors felt liberated and went on to discovering and experimenting on other themes that were found to be offensive by the Church. As the Roman Empire fell, the Church took over and showed negativity towards all the somewhat indecent actions of the art of mime. There were some actors who remained faithful to their love for theater forcing the Church to act on it and impose certain rules. Those who refused to follow even faced excommunication from the Church and public humiliation. Although all theaters have been closed down by the Church, the simple forms of mime remained. The Church has started to become lenient on actors and the theaters as they used and adapted religious themes. The art of mime continues to entertain audiences from the ancient times to modern days. Even during the Middle Ages, mime acting traveled all the way to Italy to amuse more and more people. The Commedia dell’ Arte is a form of mime that has begun in the market areas and Italian streets which is extremely similar to how most individual mime actors perform today. During those decades, the mime actors had to complement their acting with other skills such as acrobatics and comedy. Because of the masks and makeup that hid the faces of mime actors, it enabled them to perform better as it concealed their identity. This may be the best form of art that individuals with stage fright can enter because it will allow them to perform without having to worry about shyness or being recognized by people. With a boost of confidence, mime actors are able to bring more life into their mime without even having to utter a single word. In the more recent years, more and more actors are taking the challenge of the art of mime.