Mime – Page 23 – Irene Mawer – Mime, Movement, and Voice

How to write a mime play

In the early 1930s, Irene Mawer wrote a book called ‘The Art of Mime’ in which she explained the history and the technique of mime. A section of the book is devoted on how to write mime plays and although Miss Mawer’s language and terminology is considered very old fashioned

February 2, 2021 Biography / Blog / Mime

Minangka: Assam, India and Irene Mawer

Mime friends exist all around the world, and writing Irene Mawer’s biography has been especially rewarding as I have made friends with a young man called Minangka Deka, in the Assam region of India. Truth be told, until I started to write this post, I didn’t know exactly where Assam

January 26, 2021 Biography / Blog / Mime

Froebel, Steiner – Early Years Learning

Have you come across these two methods of teaching children in their early years – Froebel, and Steiner? Irene Mawer was interested in both methods, but I don’t yet know to what degree. Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) was born in Germany and established a method of allowing children to learn, particularly

January 19, 2021 Biography / Blog / Mime

What the Dickens…?

This article will talk about relatives of Charles Dickens and their relationship to Irene Mawer, and it can get a bit complicated. So here is a quick run-down of who’s who: – Charles Dickens (1812-1870), famous English author – Henry Fielding Dickens (1849-1933); a son of Charles Dickens. Married Marie

January 12, 2021 Biography / Blog / Mime

Rose Bruford and the Institute of Mime

Among the papers left at the time of Miss Mawer’s death in 1962 there is an anonymous typescript which sounds as if it was written by Miss Mawer, or someone close to her. It is dated 1954 – which is just the moment when Irene Mawer moved to the Birmingham

January 5, 2021 Biography / Blog / Mime

Pageants. Mark Edward Perugini

Pageants What, you may ask, have British pageants got to do with Irene Mawer? Indeed, what is a pageant? Until I learned that Irene Mawer’s second husband was involved in pageants, I had never given them a thought. It turns out, that once I had done some research, I had

December 29, 2020 Biography / Blog / Mime

Mrs Durling. Mrs Gregorious Brown. Yorkshire

When I was in my early twenties, I failed to realise the histories of the older people around me. After all – they were just that, old! Some thirty five years later, I now of course realise that all old people have amazing histories. They all have stories to tell,

December 22, 2020 Biography / Blog / Mime

Good News (Sir David Attenborough)

David Attenborough – Handwritten Reply to My Letter Well… big grin. No! Massive grin! A most wonderful, wonderful man has written me a letter. A handwritten letter, no less. What an absolutely superb human being, who, at 93 years of age and supremely busy, took time to reply to me.

December 15, 2020 Biography / Blog / Mime

Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama 1947-1954 (Cheltenham: Rotunda and Playhouse)

Dancing barefoot and free, beneath the huge domed roof of the Rotunda must have been an exhilarating experience. During the previous one hundred years distinguished socialites had whirled around the ballroom, but from 1947–1954 the Ginner-Mawer students danced on the wooden floor with bare feet, bare legs and bare arms.

December 8, 2020 Biography / Blog / Mime

Sir David Attenborough

Of course, everyone reading this post is likely to have heard of David Attenborough in one way or another – he is a hugely well known British naturalist and campaigner for protecting the environment. During the Second World War, Sir David’s parents cared for two Jewish refugee girls. One of