Do You Move Beautifully? 31 July 1937

Eastern Daily Press Norwich & Liverpool Post

Presumably a press release, these two news clippings from different parts of England are exactly the same. In it, we seem to hear the voice of Miss Peggy Butler (a stalwart of the Institute of Mime who took the art to Scotland) who is disparaging about the actors in cinema films – claiming them to be beautiful to look at, but without ability.

Peggy states that for stage actors, it doesn’t matter how beautiful one might be, it counts for nothing without ability. Knowledge of stage movement, she continues, can make the plainest person both beautiful and graceful. She goes on to say that stage movement is the weak point in most amateur acting and that this can lead to type-casting. To overcome this, the teacher must help the actor to become aware of their own body and of how they move. Otherwise, the leaden movements and type-casting will limit the progress of the community drama productions.

I totally agree with the sentiment of this article and I think it applies to me. I am not saying that I am a good actor, but I am saying that my mime training gave me an awareness of how I move in my everyday life. I may sometimes choose to ignore what I learned, or I might fail to always be aware, but on the whole I believe the training did me the world of good and I heartily recommend training in movement of any type for children and adults of all ages.