Reclaiming mime from the condescension of posterity

Description

This talk by Mark Evans and Simon Murray was presented in the form of a performative conversation around the themes, ideas, perceptions, contexts, personalities, histories and controversies enshrined in their recently published book, Mime into Physical Theatre: a UK Cultural History 1970 – 2000. Mark and Simon reflected on how and why mime has often been the object of derision or disdain from both the university sector and – in a different way – within popular culture. They considered the complex cultural conditions which framed and gave rise to these practices, and some of the key figures (both artists and other cultural workers) and organisations involved in performing and enabling this work. Drawing upon their own experiences as professional performers, teachers and theatre makers in the 1980s and ‘90s, and later as academics, they offered a blend of analysis, history, personal stories and documentation in relation to mime and its bastard and unruly child, physical
theatre. Their conversation reflected on the intersections between gender, class, sexuality and race in the making and performing of this work, the significance of often heated debates about training for mime and physical theatre, and the reasons for the campaigning zeal of mime activists in the late ‘70s and ‘80s in Scotland, Wales and across the UK, including in London and the South East.

Period	24 Jan 2026
Event title	MimeLondon 2026
Event type	Festival
Location	London, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National