week 4 summary

Week 4-theory summary
Hello people. This is a brief summary of the theory material we sifted
through in week 4-the lovely Jahvell is going to be talking about the
practical stuff at some point.

Well I think we can all agree that Mothers was a far superior piece to
its predecessor Total Rethink. Not only did we finally understand what
was going on in terms of plot, but thankfully the actual mime movements
were far more skilled and precise. We discussed how the humour seemed a
lot more sensible, as if it served a purpose rather than being strictly
slapstick and although they combined elements of dance and song, the
overall performance was focussed and clear. They interacted with the
audience for example when they broke into 1950's style love song which
challenged the idea of mime having to be a linear piece and also maybe
took a bit of a piss take of the typical 'male' slow jams that men use
to woo their ladies or perhaps gentleman. Last time they continuously
used the same sound with every movement so it became incredibly
difficult to establish what was going on. With Mothers, they seem to
have developed their sound effect range when performing certain
movements.

With all the improvements they made, we all understood the theme of the
piece was mother/daughter relationships and how that cycle continues
through generations, yet we must consider the way in which they combine
the use of speech and mime to convey their points. Yes we understood
the play but they did use a lot of speech to make sure of this. We must
consider whether the use of speech in fact muddies the act of the mime.
Is the act of mime a mime if it uses verbal communication or is it just
an imitation of physical theatre? Or perhaps to the contrary, it's just
a development, a nod to the insular Marcel Marceau type but a modern
take tailored to a point where an audience who isn't necessarily used
to traditional theatre techniques can understand and enjoy. We also
went on to discuss the importance of the use of stereotypes and whether
they succeed in using them to attack stereotypes or whether they in
actual fact undermine what they are trying to do by never allowing the
characters to develop.

Now to consider the socio-political aspects of the work. Denise Wong
often talked about the importance of the black British or Binglish
identity and surely the act of being a strictly women's troop under the
name Black Mime Theatre offers the idea of fighting preconceptions of
race and gender. Well that's up for debate. The act of mime being
performed by both a black person and a female person in itself is a
kind of radical action. It goes against all of the stereotypes and
conventions that we ourselves attached to mime at the beginning of the
course i.e.: white faced, French men in stripy uniforms. However saying
this, I think the consensus within in the group was that while the play
discussed the daily lives of women, it wasn't overtly feminist-banners
waving and fighting for equality-it was just a comment, a sketch of the
lives of some women. It must also be mentioned that race barely came
into the equation. Yes the performers happened to be black and yes they
used generic Caribbean accents but the activities and the situations
were not race specific. It appealed to all.

Naomi George