Dialogue, music and mime
Goodbve tradition.
hello white face
By RICHARD WIENS
Of the Emerald
Pity the poor mime. He cannot
speak and he must create an envi
ronment in his own mind. Then,
somehow, he has to express that
environment to his audience. It is
a cross few actors are willing to
bear.
Rather than abandoning this
white-faced relic of classical
theatre, a group of young Eugene
actors have set him free. Mem
bers of the New Mime Circus mix
traditional mime with dialogue,
would be restaging scenes the
day before a performance?
“The piece is still growing,”
says Lynch. “The development
process doesn't end when we
open the show.”
This “development process”
has been evolving ever since the
New Mime Circus was formed by
Judith Barker in 1972. Barker had
earlier started a mime troupe in
Boston, but came West to escape
“the generally unhealthy stuff that
goes on backstage in traditional
theatre. I had always had a fan
Emerald photo
In a new approach to Elizabethan drama, these people are staging a
traditional Shakespearian play in a very untraditional manner. They're
the NewMime Circus and not all of their performances are done in the
traditionally silent mime. Sometimes even dialogue and music are
used as part of their plays, skits and pantomimes.
'
dancing and the limited use of
props.
The New Mime Circus is proba
bly Eugene’s least traditional
theatre company. Consider a typi
cal “rehearsal" the day before a
performance:
After spending a few moments
standing on their heads and lim
bering up thPir supple bodies, six
young perso. (n colorful leotards
buzz around . room, yelling and
gesturing wilaiy. Some claim to be
the mothers and fathers of others
and set about disciplining their
“children.” One shaggy-haired
man pauses to pick fruit from an
invisible tree. Another is blindly
led around by his seeing-eye dog.
The leash he grasps is real, but
the dog ..there is no dog
“We’re living the parts of the
character s lives that aren't in the
play,” explains Bill Lynch, a
29-year-old University graduate.
“We’re living out experiences that
are suggested or hinted at in the
script, but never take place on
stage."
Lynch has a lead role in
Shakespeare’s “Pyramus and
Thisbe," a spoof of the famous
writer’s own “Romeo and Juliet,"
which the New Mime Circus pre
Isented in the tiny town of Dexter.
Even when the circus seven
“actors" get down to a serious re
hearsal of the play, it is clear they
are far from ordinary. After all,
what traditional theater company
tasy of a healthy type of theatre in
which everyone helps each other.
This is it."
The mime circus' first perfor
mances were spoofs of competi
tive sports at Hayward Field dur
ing the Olympic track and field tri
als. During the summer of 1972,
they toured Eugene parks, giving
fairly traditional silent mime per
formances complete with painted
white faces. Gradually, they be
came more innovative, using
dialogue, dancing, musical ac
companiment and props.
"People get dissatisfied with
pure mime,” says Barker. “It
doesn't sustain an audience for a
very long time.
“For us, mime is such a natural
part of our acting that people
forget what we re doing. They ac
cept it totally, and then they say
where's the mime, man?’ Some
times people even get mad when
we talk, because it's not pure.
Well, to me, thank goodness it’s
not pure. It's so much more in
teresting to have multiple-aspects
to the work.
"We re not producing theatre of
the expected. It's entertainment,
true, but it's designed to expand
the audiences' theatrical aware
ness — make them laugh and feel
and think new thoughts ”
Barker is director of the mime
circus, but she characterizes her
self as a coach, “because I’m
training people, and as a syn
thesizer, because I listen to
everybody's ideas.
“When we begin work on a
piece, we do what we call discov
ery work.’ I don’t preconceive of
what the production is going to
look like, because everyone
needs to find the parts of the
characters they can relate to.
When cogent features emerge
from the improvisation, we dis
cuss them and decide what to
use.”
Right up to the time of a perfor
mance, Barker advises the actors
on ways to improve their work.
Then again, “if I’m on stage, they’ll
be giving me feedback. It’s all a
fluid process.’’
Until receiving a federal grant
last July, the NewMime Circus
performed only one-act plays and
skits, seldom making money. All
the actors had other jobs or went
to school, and the group would
sometimes go for months “study
ing” theatre but giving no perfor
mances. Now it works fulltime, oc
casionally performing full-length
productions, and takes home at
least $540 each a month.
The Comprehensive Employ
ment and Training Act (CETA)
grant also allowed them to hire
three versatile musicians for ac
companiment, led by singer/
guitarist, Sue Davis. The mu
sicians rehearse daily with the
actors at the mime circus’ head
quarters on High Street, participat
ing even in the group's most
bizarre fits of “improvisation.”
“One day we got into portraying
all the roles as little children —
musicians included,” recalls
drummer Tom Sassano.
In addition to a host of short
skits, the NewMime Circus has
tackled long plays such as Arthur
Miller’s “The Creation of the
World," Eugene Ionesco’s "Mac
Bett” and one-act plays like
Shakespeare's “Pyramus and
Thisbe.”
Their stages have been even
more diverse, ranging from the
downtown mall to the living room
of Good Samaritan Nursing
Home. They presented “Humulus
the Mute” on all three levels of the
EMU Lobby.
“We enjoy working in different
spaces, both indoor and outdoor,”
says James Aday, producer of the
mime circus. “We adapt to the en
vironment — that’s why it’s excit
ing performing on different
stages.”
The day after their final rehear
sal of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” their
stage is the Dexter Theater. With
its rounded steel roof, it looks
more like an airplane hangar. The
product of a Depression-era work
project, it is now a community
center of sorts for this bend-in
the-road town 18 miles southeast
of Eugene.
The actors arrive in 80 degree
heat hours before showtime. Get
ting ready is a long, drawn-out
process of going over lines, im
provising as they did the day be
fore and setting up musical
equipment. They do their final
warm-ups — stretching exercises
and yoga — after the audience
arrives.
“It’s our way of opening up to
the audience,” says Lynch
(Pyramus). Unfortunately, “the
audience" includes only 15 paying
patrons, so Lynch and two other
colorfully costumed actors go out
side to do some recruiting. Mean
while, the mime circus' juggler,
Gary Calder, gets the show rolling
by juggling everything from bas
ketballs to clubs, some while rid
ing a unicycle.
Outside, the actors wave at
passing cars and encourage
some kids on bicycles to come in
side. When told a juggler is per
forming, the kids get interested
and dismount their stingrays.
They lack the 50 cents child ad
mission fee. but the box office
man lets them in free.
The now-enlarged audience
sits on couches and the floor
within spitting distance of the ac
tors as they present “Pyramus
and Thisbe." The performance is
surprisingly polished and profes
sional, considering the day
before’s last-minute restagings.
The young lovers, Pyramus and
Thisbe, end up committing
suicide, each thinking the other is
already dead ala “Romeo and
Juliet.” Unwilling to conclude the
play in such a depressing manner,
the NewMime Circus tacks on its
own unique ending. As Shakes
peare turns over in his grave, the
actors perform a backward,
speeded-up, non-speaking ver
sion of the play, like a rewinding
videotape.
During intermission after
“Pyramus and Thisbe," perfor
mers and spectators mingle. The
musicians allow curious children
to experiment with their less
breakable instruments. The mime
circus is geared toward making
the audience comfortable, and the
result is a relaxed, friendly atmos
phere.
After a brief guitar, vibraphone
and bongo drums concert by the
musicians, the mimes present a
futuristic final skit, “The Applic
ant."
A man in suit and tie walks into a
futuristic “office," resume in hand.
He wants a job. Mannequin-like
mimes attach invisible electrodes
I ■»■■■■« 1 ' —
to him and administer shocks.
Meanwhile, he is interviewed by
two women, who ask questions in
unison with nasal twangs The
skit’s meaning is hard to find, but
the audience goes home happy, if
somewhat puzzled. You don’t see
things like this in Dexter everyday.
Ironically, the NewMime Circus'
spirit of continuous growth and
exploration could lead to the
group breaking up.
“I’ve reached a point in de
velopment where I’d be glad to do
something else,’’ says Richard
Caves, an original member. In
deed, he says “everyone is de
veloped to the point where if they
want to do something else, they
can.”
The group recently had an “in
tensive evaluation session," ac
cording to producer Aday. “One of
the things coming out is a strong
desire to drop back, study and ex
plore. Lately we've been pumping
out show after show.. If you do that
too much you end up relying on
techniques and tricks.”
Barker, too, says the mime cir
cus is in a transitional stage.
“Right now, the group wants
more of a sense of ensemble di
rection. I can understand that and
I’m eager to see where it goes. But
I’m not certain that the next step
for me is to immerse myself as an
actor in the company while it’s
reaching out this way.”
Whether the NewMime Circus
continues to evolve or becomes
extinct, it is clearly a success in
the minds of its members.
“It might just stop," says Caves.
“But it seems that everyone is so
close to each other that even if it
broke up, it might resurface
again.”
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