Whatever your opinion with regard to Ai, please beware! I asked Gemini the question “Who was Irene Mawer?” and the results made me cry!
The photo attached to this blog post is a screen shot of the answer generated by Gemini Ai.
The item begins well, with the first paragraph being factually correct. However, by the second paragraph the mistakes start to appear. Miss Mawer was not a student at RADA, though some of the women that she taught went on to hold teaching posts there. And while Irene did attend the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, it did not receive Royal patronage until many years later. I was very surprised to see that Ai believes that Irene Mawer was a pupil of Rudolf Laban. She wasn’t!
Paragraph three gives some correct information (regarding the Ginner-Mawer School), however the dates for the Institute of Mime are wrong. It began in 1933 and was discontiued shortly after the end of World War Two.
Miss Mawer did indeed write The Art of Mime, but it was first published in 1932 not 1955, and Twelve Mime Plays followed in 1933.
I do totally agree with the information in the final paragraph, though. 🙂
Here is a copy of the Ai response to my question:
“Irene Mawer was a British mime artist, teacher, and writer. She was born in Wandsworth, London, in 1893 and died in Blewbury, Oxfordshire, in 1962.
Mawer was a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She was also a pupil of the dancer and choreographer Rudolf Laban.
Mawer was a co-founder of the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama, which she ran with her friend Ruby Ginner from 1916 to 1954. She was also the founder of the Institute of Mime, which she ran from 1954 to 1962.
Mawer was a highly influential figure in the development of mime as an art form. She wrote several books on the subject, including The Art of Mime: Its History and Technique in Education and the Theatre (1955) and Twelve Mime Plays (1962).
Mawer’s work has been praised for its clarity, precision, and expressive power. She is considered one of the most important figures in the history of mime.”
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