The London International Mime Festival shut down two years ago after 47 years of award-winning shows.
Honestly, everyone was speechless.
And although some thought the show runners would never be heard from again, thankfully the festival has returned – albeit in a slightly different, more streamlined form. This is now called MimeLondon, and it’s still run by the two former directors of the LIMF (Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig). Instead of strictly being mime shows, they’re now showcasing a handful of international companies presenting productions that emphasised visual storytelling.
Here are a couple of the highlights –
La Manékinem – Based on the Grimm Brothers’, The Girl Without Hands, this striking production tells the story of a poor miller who naively makes a deal with the devil, unwittingly promising him his daughter. Blending puppetry, storytelling and a live one-man orchestra, it gets dark.
Not A Word – With music, physical theatre, and masks this new piece of physical theatre tells the story of the forgotten Irish navvies who ‘took the boat’, and became forgotten class of Irish emigrants who helped build countries that were not their own.
Moby Dick – Featuring seven actors, fifty puppets and a whale-sized whale, this impressively ambitious adaptation of Herman Melville’s mighty novel has been widely critically acclaimed.
Five Lines – Set in a dystopian future shaped by extreme greed, this is the UK premier of this piece of ‘micro cinema-theatre’ that uses miniature sets and models filed in extreme closeup, and projected in large format.
There are more shows besides those too, as well as a few workshops and even a cinema screening too. So there we go – it’s short and sweet, but nicely encapsulates the huge variety of (largely) wordless performance art that’s being made across the world today. And it just goes to show…
…mime is anything but black and white.
NOTE: MimeLondon takes place between 11th January and 1st February 2025 at venues across the capital. You can find out more about what’s on, and book tickets at the MimeLondon website.
MimeLondon | The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
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