Warsaw: 15th jubilee International Mime Art Festival starts in June

Marking 15 years of the Warsaw International Mime Art Festival, the upcoming edition of the event, to be held by the Dramatyczny Theatre and the Warsaw Mime Centre from 5 to 14 June 2015, will celebrate the mime artists without whom the genre might not have got to the point it is at now: Étienne Decroux and his student Marcel Marceau, Henryk Tomaszewski, and Ladislav Fialka. The festival will welcome shows developed by the theatre companies established by the founding fathers of mime, their students, and artists who follow their vision.

The festival will open with the premiere of Marcel put together by Lionel Menard for the Theatre of the Warsaw Mime Centre. It is a remake of an etude created by Menard 25 years ago while he studied with Marceau. Although not a classic biography, the piece contains many biographical themes and is a tribute to the mime master.

The next show on the programme, Bon Voyage, is a piece of unique mime for audiences young and old. The author, Alexey Mironov, is a former artist of the legendary Cirque du Soleil. Polish audiences will remember his performance at last year’s Modern Mime Evening.

On the third night of the festival, the organisers and the audience will celebrate 40 years of Gregg Goldston’s artistic career. The world’s most accomplished mime soloist, Goldston has prepared a brand new work especially for the occasion. Weeping in silence is a unique, fully-fledged mime show with a running plot ? not a series of etudes. The author draws inspiration from cinematic classics: Chaplin, Hitchcock, and Kubrick. As for the concept, the show aims at a theatrical equivalent of the immediate (although imagined) change of place that is characteristic of film. It also mimics film narration, which feeds viewers’ expectations and excitement about what might happen next.

Zuzanna and starcyis a piece by the Wrocław Mime Theatre (WTP), directed by Leszek Mądzik, outstanding plastic theatre artist. After the performance the audience is invited to join the director and Zbigniew Szymczyk, WTP’s head, for a discussion.

Traditionally, the festival will include the Modern Mime Evening, a showcase of a few dozen short theatrical forms by international artists.

Performing in Poland for the first time, Spain’s Kulkuno Theatre will present their blend of mime art and masks.

To conclude the festival the excellent duo Bodecker & Neander Compagnie will present their latest piece Timelapse, whosedirector, Lionel Menard, has praised it as the best work has ever put on with the company.

Th festival will be accompanied with open talks by representatives of different styles of mime art from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and France, as well as miming workshops.

The programme of the 25th International Mime Art Festival:

5th June, 7 pm: Marcel ? Theatre of the Warsaw Mime Centre (Poland)

(Scena Na Woli, Dramatyczny Theatre)

6th June, 7 pm: Bon Voyage ? Alexey Mironov (Russia/Germany)

(Scena Na Woli, Dramatyczny Theatre)

7th June, 7 pm: Weeping in silence ? Gregg Goldson (USA)

(Scena Na Woli, Dramatyczny Theatre)

8th June: The History of Mime Art ? a meeting

(Scena Na Woli, Dramatyczny Theatre)

9th June, 7 pm: Zuzanna i starcy ? Wrocław Mime Theatre (Poland)

A meeting with Leszek Mądzik and Zbigniew Szymczyk will precede the performance

11th June, 7 pm: Modern Mime Evening ? international line-up