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Stage Breaking out of the box
Mime master Marcel Marceau extols the ''the art of silence'' and discounts those for whom mime may be a four-letter word.
By MARTY CLEAR
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 27, 2003
[AP photo]
Marcel Marceau drew inspiration for many of his characters from silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin.
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There probably has never been another artist who has been so dominant in his art form for so long.
Marcel Marceau has been almost universally acknowledged as the world's greatest mime. Almost everybody knows his name. Almost nobody could name even one other practitioner of "the art of silence."
"We have reached three generations," Marceau said in a phone interview from Spain last weekend. "I have performed for Charles Laughton and other great stars of that day, all the way to Michael Jackson."
It's no coincidence that Marceau, who will bring his art to Ruth Eckerd Hall Sunday, in what could be his final appearance in this area, summons American icons as markers of his career.
Although he showed a propensity for mime at an early age, he drew his greatest inspiration from the masters of American silent cinema: Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon and especially Charlie Chaplin. In fact, Mr. Bip, Marceau's most famous character, is often compared to Chaplin's Little Tramp.
"He is sort of a Don Quixote who struggles with the windmill of life," Marceau said of his alter-ego, Bip.
Over the years, over the generations, the United States has been especially welcoming to Marceau and his art.
"It is a great country," he said. "I have played so many times in America, it is almost like my second country."
That's a surprising sentiment, considering the status of mime here. Marceau understands that mime, at least in this country, is a much-maligned art form. But he has a simple explanation. Most Americans, he said, have seen mime only on street corners of big cities, where the mime pretends to be trapped in a box or offers invisible flowers to passers-by.
In other words, we're usually seeing really bad mimes.
"People have not seen the art," he said. "When people see bad mimes on the street, of course they will not come to see my performance."
Given the opportunity to see mime done well, he said, most people realize the breadth, beauty and power of the art form.
"It is the heart of man, it is the soul," he said. "But it has to go to perfection. It cannot be just amusement. If you are strong, if you are deep, you will make an art that will touch people."
Marceau's performance in Clearwater -- his first Florida appearance in about 10 years -- will include a mix of classic mimodramas and comic pieces (including "The Hands," "The Mask Maker," "Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death," "Bip and the Matrimonial Agency" and "Bip Travels by Sea") plus several new works that Marceau has never before performed in the United States. Bip won't make his appearance until the second act, but it's an all-Bip show from that point on.
Although the upcoming 35-show trip through the United States and Asia is being billed as his "Farewell Tour," Marceau, 79, isn't adamant that it will be his last.
"It will not end my career," he said. "My health is good, my body is good, it is possible maybe that I will come to America again."
Meanwhile, he continues to teach in France, and said that the art form will be in good hands.
"There is a new generation of mimes in Paris that is very good," he said. "The art of mime has become a very strong art."
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PREVIEW: Marcel Marceau, 2 p.m. Sunday, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $29-$40. (727) 791-7400.
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