What is comedy? - Basics of Miming

Aim of Task:

To discuss what is comedy, as an introduction to Unit 2, comedian dell' Arte. Explore comedy in performance, apply mime and movement skills.

Description of Task:

We first did a brainstorm on the board where Steve wrote down everything that can be considered a Comedy. Around the "What is a comedy" oval we had:

• Funny
• Making fun of ... it's not real

Satire - makes fun of people/politics

• Situations - funny events, absurdity
• Characters (Mr. Bean), stereotypes, movement/expressions.
• Exaggerate - slap stick, low comedy.
• Timing
• Witty dialogue - language, stand up.
• Dark comedy, focuses on taboos.
• Ritualised relief.
• Happy ending.
• Repetition.
  

Afterwards, we did some exercises to practice miming. First Steve arranged us in a circle and told us he was holding a putty which could be moulded to any object. He started making a toothbrush and then miming how he brushed his teeth. He made sounds to simulate what brushing your teeth sounds like and to represent the shape of the toothbrush he put his hands around the toothbrush. Then, he turned the putty into a sphere shaped object and passed it to somebody else. Many people did different, creative objects with the putty. I noticed that, to represent the shape they were making with the putty, people put their hands around the object, emphasising the edges and special characteristics of the object. Some other people also made sounds with their mouth to complement what they were doing with their hands. At some point, Steve received the putty and started moulding a bomb. He made a sound with his mouth like if he lit the bomb and it was going to explode. He pass it around to the students until we simulated like the bomb exploded and Daniel laid in the floor, "dead." Everybody gathered around for a while, "trying to help him" but then he stood up as a "zombie." All this pretending went on and on with different actions but it was extremely funny. I found it very silly to do all that stuff but it was really really funny to follow because it made no sense.

After playing with the putty, Steve started shaping a box with his hands. He mimed holding the box and then passed to the person next to him. He told everybody that he would pass the box around and we would choose the size and weight of each box. To communicate the size and weight of the box, most people put their hands around the whole box, emphasising the corners, and bent their knees to represent objects that weighted a lot. I tried to make a very small but heavy box, that could fit in one hand. Jose did a very creative thing with his box, he moved into the middle of the circle and put it on the floor. He then showed a very big box with his hands and started pushing that box instead of just holding it with his hands, like if it was very, very heavy.

At last, we did some other exercises of miming in pairs. Daniel was my partner. We had to pretend there was a pole somewhere between us where we had to hold onto. We held the pole and moved around, trying to keep our hand in the same place as if we were still holding the pole. Next, we did some miming pretending there was a wall and we had to keep our hands very stiff against the wall.

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an elevator shaft and die." - Mel Brooks, Actor.

Reflection:

There is a lot of technique in miming. To do miming correctly you have to consider every attribute of the objects around you. Miming requires a lot of concentration and creativity to think all the possible ways you can represent the objects around you and what would happen if they were actually there. This is why miming can be funny, because you can represent silly or unexpected objects.

Conclusion:

The understanding of comedy and miming will be indispensable for Commedia dell' Arte. Comedy is about making fun of seriousness, making fun of routines; receiving the unexpected. Comedy makes a lot of use in miming for unexpected body language. I feel I am really interested in this theatre topic, since comedy and what makes people laugh is something that has put me into a lot of thinking, and I'm sure I will really enjoy it :)