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.