Well! As ever, when I ask Ai about mime and Miss Mawer, it gets some of it right, but some of it frighteningly wrong.
While procrastinating (not finishing my books), I asked Ai to design a mime course. At first, I gave it free reign, and afterwards, I told it to design a course according to Miss Mawer’s methods. I was keen to see what it said. And I was keen to see what other people would see, should they also decide to go down this road. The results were mixed, and definately unusable in relation to Miss Mawer’s work.
This is the first course it came up with – not Miss Mawer’s techniques at all, and very generalised:
“Course Title: The Art of Silence: A 10-Week Introduction to Mime.”
”Course Description:
This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of corporeal mime and the art of silent storytelling. Students will move beyond the cliché of “the man in the box” to discover a powerful and expressive theatrical art form. Through physical conditioning, technical exercises, and creative exploration, participants will learn how to create characters, manipulate invisible objects, and build compelling narratives using only their bodies. This course is ideal for actors, dancers, physical theatre enthusiasts, and anyone looking to enhance their physical awareness and expressive capabilities.. Target Audience: Beginners with little to no mime experience.” The Ai continued with a very interesting-sounding programme of one lesson per week over a 10 week period.
I then asked for a course based on Miss Mawer’s method. It started well: “Here is a 10-week course designed around the principles of Irene Mawer, which contrasts with the more illusionistic Franco-Italian style by emphasizing expression, musicality, and the inner source of movement.”
I have to admit, I liked its title – “The Expressive Body: An Introduction to the Irene Mawer Method”. (Though it should have said method of mime.)
I liked the next bit, too “This course explores the pioneering work of Irene Mawer, a key figure in British mime and expressive movement.”
It began to lose its shine, though: “Moving away from purely illusionistic techniques, … Students will learn the foundational Seven Qualities of Movement and how to apply them to create poetic, character-driven, and emotionally resonant silent performance.” What on earth are the Seven Qualities of Movement? Certainly they are nothing to do with Miss Mawer’s method of mime.
It then went on to give me a breakdown the the weekly classes, telling me how each segment (timewise) would be spent. I won’t repeat it here, because although it sounded very plausible, it was just wrong. The language was wrong, and just the whole feel of it was wrong.
Ai gave me a very interesting series of classes, each focussing on a specific thing. But, of course, this is no way to teach anyone anything. There was no appreciation of each pupil being an individual, who needs to grow and to be cherished. And while Ai thinks it knows Miss Mawer’s method, of course, it doesn’t. So, when I design my own course, I won’t be turning to Ai to do it for me.