The Ancient Art of Silence Is Still Golden
Friday, January 12, 2007; Page WE24
The ancient practice of mime has been called the art of making the invisible visible. It has been lovingly described as the wordless poetry of theater. It is also Mark Jaster playing a double ocarina, an oddly oval-shaped, flute-like instrument, while simultaneously spinning a plate on a spindly stick balanced on his forehead. And that's part of his original new show, "The Seven Ages of Mime," at Round House Theatre's Silver Spring annex.
Jaster says he hopes the family-friendly show, which he says is suitable for kids ages 4 and older, will introduce children to the art of mime and perhaps reintroduce it to their parents.
  "The Seven Ages of Mime," featuring Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell, highlights periods in mime history, including Roman times. (Photos By Michael Williamson -- The Washington Post) |
"It's really fun, that's the most important thing to know about this show," he said. "There's tricks and humor and surprise, and even intrigue. It's designed to be engaging not just for the kids, but for grown-ups, too. Hopefully, the skeptics can have their minds changed about the range and the possibility of the art."
Skeptics? Popular since the time of ancient Rome, mime was critical to the development of theater's enduring commedia dell'arte tradition of physical comedy. Circus clowns performed mime for centuries, and it was a mainstay of the silent cinema, just as early television entertainers such as Sid Caesar and Red Skelton relied on its routines. Even Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk" is borrowed from a walking-against-the-wind bit performed by France's Marcel Marceau, the internationally acclaimed (and now retired) mime most familiar to Americans. So who is skeptical? Many of us, Jaster says.
"The most important part of the mission I've been working on for the last 20 years or so is to try to expand people's understanding of what mime is, to break down the stereotype of the annoying, white-faced pest in the shopping mall," Jaster explained. "People don't think of Charlie Chaplin when they think of mime, they don't think of the great circus acts. But these are places where mime has flourished over the years."
While writing and rehearsing the show, developed especially for Round House, Jaster was still performing several roles in the Maryland Youth Ballet's "Nutcracker." Gliding about the stage as Mother Ginger, he silently but emphatically gestured from atop a nine-foot-tall "body," wearing garish makeup and a dress and bustle large enough to hide about a dozen dancers who emerged from behind the apron. That, too, is mime.
Jaster trained and worked with Marceau and performs solo shows in addition to appearing with local theater companies and teaching. His solo work combines acrobatics and physical dramatization, backed by live music played on unusual instruments. Jaster's wife and partner, Sabrina Mandell, joins him in the new show, which lasts a child-friendly hour as it touches on several thousand years of mime highlights.
"I went back and looked at the best material I could get through all time and tried to find a context that presents its most important moments in a cohesive way," Jaster said.
One of those moments occurred when Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball performed "The Broken Mirror," a sketch that is fondly remembered and still watched a half-century after first being televised on "I Love Lucy." Originating in late-19th-century circuses, the mirror routine was appropriated by the Marx Brothers during their vaudeville years and used in their film "Duck Soup." In 1955, Marx and the red-haired comedian Ball filmed their version before a studio audience. Lucy, dressed identically as Harpo, tries to hide in plain sight by convincing Harpo he is looking into a mirror. She synchronizes her movements to his in a long scene that is silent except for screams of laughter. That is the sense of mime Jaster wants to bring to youthful audiences.
"We've taken the choreography from Harpo and Lucy, almost step by step, and added a little bit from 'Duck Soup' and put it in the context of the show," he said. "Kids can easily relate to it. When we teach theater, it's easier to get kids to perform honestly in gesture than it is in speech. They can commit to an action in a way that's harder to with speech. After all, everyone gestures. It's really the universal language."
THE SEVEN AGES OF MIME Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 3 and 8, and Sundays at 1 and 4, through Jan. 28. Round House Theatre Silver Spring, 8641 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. 240-644-1100.http:/
