The London International Mime Festival 2010 - it's not all stripy jumpers
Mime isn't just about sad stripy jumpered men and women with an unhealthy pallor. For those of you who missed the London International Mime Festival last year, it's about puppetry, circus, aerial acrobatics, illusion, physical comedy and basically any theatre in which the words aren't the focus of the piece – if they have words at all. The festival involves people from all over Europe and America performing in some of London's top venues – the Barbican, ICA, Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, Southbank Centre and the Roundhouse. We've had a nosy and picked out some that we think look the most promising:
15th-19th January
La Maldicion de Poe (The Curse of Poe) @ Purcell Room
Opening the festival is the famous 'puppets of terror' at the Southbank Centre. Teatro Corsario have come over from Spain to amuse and thrill with their creepy puppets as they re-enact some of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Let's face it, we just like this one for the monkey.
Best for: the monkey
16th-20th January
Gobo. Digital Glossary @ ICA Theatre
In a mad and chaotic display of visual theatre, avant-garde Akhe Engineering Theatre from Russia suspend a man from the ceiling by his ankle, use bullets to pour beer, and all manner of bizarre acts in this absurdist take on the Everyman story.
Best for: something really different.
19th-29th January
Flesh & Blood, Fish & Fowl @ Barbican Pit Theatre
American performers Geoff Sobelle and Charlotte Ford won the Fringe First award at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe with this dark ecological satire. Mankind has lost the plot – what starts out as a parody of office life ends up with plants bursting out of filing cabinets and wild animals roaming the office.
Best for: making your office seem tame
20th-22nd January
Un Cirque Plus Juste @ Roundhouse
This show hails from Circo Aereo from France and Finland. A little bit more relaxing than the chaotic office or the scary puppets, Jani Nuttinen performs his one-man circus show in a dreamy world of shadow play, illusion and skilful object manipulation.
Best for: a bit of down time
26th January
The Art of Laughter @ Linbury Studio
Jos Houben from Belgium has already had some success in England with his one-man show. Houbern, one of the original members of Complicité, won the Total Theatre Award at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe with his brilliant performance-lecture on physical comedy.
Best for: laughs
For the London International Mime Festival website, click here.
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