For some time, I have been struggling with how to tell you what Miss Mawer’s mime technique was like. I have been looking for ways to describe it in words. I still haven’t found my answer, but I think the following critical review of one of her performances might go
Continue reading
Was he, or wasn’t he? That is the question. Was Leslie French trained at Ginner-Mawer, or wasn’t he? According to his obituaries, he wasn’t (or at least they don’t mention Ginner-Mawer), but then again the two obituaries that I have looked at also give different dates for various moments in
Continue reading
Felicia Mallet (1863-1928) was a French woman who taught mime to Elsie Fogerty (1865-1945), who in turn ‘let fall’ nuggets of knowledge to Irene Mawer (1893-1962) when she was a pupil at Fogerty’s Central School in England during World War One. According to Wikipedia, Mallet was a comedian, singer and
Continue reading
Unless otherwise stated, the quotes in this blog post are from an article written by Irene Mawer in The Link, which contained the newsletter of the Ginner-Mawer School of Mime and Movement, Miss Mawer wrote an article about a group of French theatre people called the Cercle Funambulesque (1). From
Continue reading
In 1937 the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama celebrated its 21st birthday. By this time Miss Mawer had been married, widowed, married again, lived through a World War, worked with Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson in The Trojan Women, and also in Medea, published The Dance of Words, visited
Continue reading
The Magazine – Programme 5 April 1937 This newspaper clipping states that hardly any mime was being performed in the theatres of London’s West End – even though there was a willing audience who would have liked to have seen it and it goes on to give advance notice of
Continue reading
The Stage, London. 4 November 1937 This tiny clipping is a notice of a forthcoming mime play, called L’Enfant Prodigue – the role for which Irene Mawer was most famous. The show was due to run for six public performances, plus one private performance at which the funds raised would
Continue reading
The Stage, London3 June 1937 Performance at Aldwych Theatre, 1937 After Irene Mawer’s death, a book of newspaper clippings was found among her papers. This blog post is one in a series of posts tracking the evolution of the Institute of Mime, through the information in the log of newspaper
Continue reading
The Times, London 31 May 1937 THE ART OF UNSPOKEN DRAMA, Goldoni. 31 May 1937 It is rather exciting to see that Irene Mawer received acknowledgement in The Times newspaper, even though it is a pre-prepared article seen in at least one other newspaper. The article gives advance notice of
Continue reading
Sussex Daily News 13 November 1933 The Oldest Art: mime demonstrated at Brighton Roedean is a private, fee-paying school in the south of England. This newspaper clipping describes a mime demonstration there, given by Irene Mawer. Reading this newspaper article in conjunction with the newspaper article described in one of my previous
Continue reading