Mime and Physicality Tips

Physical comedy and mime. It's a foundation skill for all performance. The way you hold yourself on stage, the way you move and the way you interact with props (invisible or literal) all adds to your performance. There's a lot to think about. Which is why we asked physical comedy and mime, David Hoskin, for some tips ahead of his workshop this Sunday (17th Nov). Have a read through and try these out - good luck for trying out the Tobacco song! Over to you David…

Mime, and its cousin physical comedy, are styles that gel with a wide variety of other performance types, such as standup comedy as seen in the award winning Edinburgh Fringe ‘24 show Horses by Elf Lyons. Mime’s embodiment of character types is drawn from the same handbook as our most beloved sitcom characters, and has a silliness as witnessed by Rowan Atkinson playing invisible drums to Britain’s Got Talent winner, Viggo Venn, miming the voice of Simon Cowell. But the path to incorporating these comedy techniques into your work can seem daunting for newcomers. So, I give to you budding mimers, tools to create your own mime show. Check out these tips!

1) Everything has weight. 

If the objects you’ve interacted with don’t abide by the laws of gravity, then neither will your show. Expect it, and everyone’s attention, to fly out of the window. They will be both confused and bored.

2) Think cinematically. 

It may come as a surprise that the language of cinema is a mime’s best friend. The use of close ups, zoom outs, and edits are great ways to explore how you tell the story and to set up punchlines. If unsure about how to express something with mime, pop on your favourite movie and watch the different shots capture performances! A great example of this can be seen in the brilliant Jurassic-Park-in-one-hour-with-only-two-performers-and-a-foley-artist, Hold Onto Your Butts.Admittedly these guys do use props, but it’s still a great illustrator on how to think and express cinematically.

3) Warm up. 

For God’s sake warm up. As a man in his mid-thirties with a mild spine condition, I have the flexibility of an old action man doll whose rubber band insides have rotted away. I spend at least thirty minutes stretching and doing yoga for fear of tweaking a muscle or snapping perfectly in half. Special attention should be given to your hands during the warm-up. After all, they are your greatest mime asset. If you can open and close your hands for the entirety of the song ‘Motorlicker’ by Tobacco, they will be sufficiently warmed up. Feel the burn!

4) The curse of the pinky. 

What is a mime's greatest enemy? Weird object resistance? Forgetting where a character was on stage? Accidentally walking through a mime table? People insisting you pretend to be stuck in a glass box? All bad (though the table is fine if you’re miming as a ghost) though it is in fact... your little finger. This reckless focus puller breaks the hearts of mimes all over the globe. It can destroy entire scenes through its unbridled love of refusing to do what you tell it. Gasp in amazement as the mime builds an entire sequence filled with endearing characters, detailed prop work and captivating storytelling, only for it to be instantly ruined when your horrible little digit pokes out at a weird angle. And, let’s be clear, everyone will immediately look at it. For ages. Thanks pinky finger. You total and utter git.The solution? Tape your third finger and pinky together to help your awareness of it. Failing that, cut it off and throw it out your bedroom window.

5) I didn’t expect that! 

The beauty of everything being invisible is that you can create anything you want, toy with expectation and with this enjoy playing with the audience. If you have music in your scene, have the character hear it, then press a switch to turn it off! Why not go further and then let the audience turn it back on. There is a game and tempo to the play that can exist here between audience, performer and imagination which has endless possibilities. Honesty, just think of what you can have on stage that you wouldn't normal be able to if it wasn't mimed. Also it helps your set be a lot smaller, in my show Hølìdåÿ my show only requires the following: an mp3, two chairs, a patient technician, one performer, an audience and an envelope. And yes, to all the purists out there I know it can be argued that the envelope is overkill. I’m still on the invisible fence about it. But for now it stays.

So follow these tips, get those hands warmed up, remember the pinky, and allow your audience to dream! Want to experience this and more? I’m teaching a full day of physical comedy training on 18th November! Come and learn how to bring an exciting physicality to your work through characterisation, tension and visual vernacular!