Mime is a modern version of
plastic acting, a
tradition that goes back to the
Romans. It is a way of exercising control over the
body so that it conveys the
illusion of things not present, such as
walls,
water, articles of clothing.
Marcel Marceau has travelled the world demonstrating the school of mime known as corporal mime.
The great modern masters of this school were the Frenchmen Etienne Decrux, and Jean-Louis Barrault.
Barrault's presentation of a white clown in the wartime French film, Les enfants du Paradise, is my all-time favourite example of mime:It is as if Barrault has no bones in his body.
A more stylized form of mime is pantomime.