Étienne Decroux
Encyclopedia
Étienne DecrouxÉtienne Decroux (July 19, 1898 in Paris
, France
– March 12, 1991 in Boulogne-Billancourt
, France
) studied at Jacques Copeau
's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime
. During his long career as a film and theatre actor, he created many pieces, using the human body as the primary means of expression.
in 1923, as a student of Charles Dullin
, Decroux began to envision a newly defined vision of mime, and later developed an original, personal style of movement. His early "statuary mime" recalls Rodin
's sculptures. Later, more plastic forms were called "mime corporeal" or corporeal mime. An intellectual and theoretician, his body training was based in part on what modern dancers call “isolations,” in which body sections move in prescribed sequence. and, in part, on the physics of compensation required to keep the body in balance when the center of gravity is shifted.He is special in drama.
He wanted to enlist other students into a mime company, but the acting students were not very interested. When the Vieux Colombier closed in 1924, Decroux taught at the acting school of Charles Dullin
, the Atellier. Jean-Louis Barrault
also came to the school, and the two worked closely for two years, producing corporeal mime
pieces individually and together.
Returning from the United States
to Paris
in 1962, he opened his school in Boulogne-Billancourt
where he taught almost until his death. Many hundreds of students passed though his school, and a new generation of mimes continue his research.
The art form Decroux created along these years differs completely from what had previously been known as traditional pantomime
. He did not develop the art of silence, but a true art of dramatic movement. As a consequence, it is his revolutionary art form that is often considered to be "classical" mime.
. Decroux opened his own school of mime in 1941 and developed a technique in support of his artistic creations. The work had deep-going effect on artists like Jean-Louis Barrault
, Marcel Marceau
, Shaike Ophir, Thomas Leabhart
, Jewel Walker and Daniel Stein--though even they followed their own stars. A few artists who studied with Decroux continue to teach and develop the art form of corporeal mime, creating new pieces and shows and also performing pieces from the Decrouxian repertory. Students of Decroux and Corporeal Mime have since opened schools and created companies in Spain, Italy, Belgium or England. Their work aims at developing corporeal mime in new directions and creates encounters between their technical and artistic background and those of other artists.
Etienne Decroux has been called the “father of modern mime,” which is true to the extent that he is the father of his own style or corporeal mime
(though Decroux credited Jacques Copeau with paternity, he claims only to have raised the child). There were and are other styles of modern mime unrelated to his. In addition to his contribution as a teacher, his influence on Barrault and Marceau created a tremendous impetus for mime in France, from where it spread. His work continues to stimulate and inspire mime artists.
Decroux's work was necessary to give mime the artistic autonomy it has today, as is the case with other art forms such as music or dance. He did not develop his vision in an abstract way, but in an extremely concrete one, drawing daily inspiration from people, jobs, situations and sport.
The years between 1940 and 1984 were fundamental to Decrouxian research. Directors such as Artaud, Copeau, Dullin, Craig and many other artists stimulated Decroux to undertake his research "ferociously" (according to Edward Gordon Craig
's definition of Decroux's method) and for decades he worked to redefine the art of mime in a modern context.
In both the actor and the pantomime artist, gestures and facial expressions may predominate which are uncontrolled uses of the face and hands. These are defined by Decroux as "instruments of a lie" because they are bound to everyday habits. Decroux began to analyze the body, deconstructing and recomposing it and giving it a three-dimensional form, influenced by classical Greek sculpture and by the plastic art of Auguste Rodin
. In corporeal mime the prevalence of the trunk over other parts of the body is fundamental. The actor, according to the Decrouxian model, becomes totally expressive and is no longer awkwardly limited to the over-riding and uncontrolled use of the face and hands.
In terms of mime, one could speak not so much of the art of movement, but the art of attitude
determined by harmony and achieved through the trunk and limbs, thought and form.
The art of sculpture tends to grasp attitude more than movement. As Rodin says, "The movement of the body is the passage from one attitude to another." For Decroux, attitude is more important than gesture or actual movement and he defines the latter as a succession of attitudes.
Today, Decroux's methodology is seen to be a modern and truthful way for the forward-thinking actor who feels the need to re-establish himself in a theater form in which stylization is both fundamental and vital.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
– March 12, 1991 in Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) studied at Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...
's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime
Corporeal mime
One subgroup of physical theater is corporeal mime. Its objective is to place drama inside the moving human body, rather than to substitute gesture for speech as in pantomime. In this medium, the mime must apply to physical movement those principles that are at the heart of drama: pause,...
. During his long career as a film and theatre actor, he created many pieces, using the human body as the primary means of expression.
Career
Enrolled at the Vieux-ColombierThéâtre du Vieux-Colombier
The Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier is a theatre located at 21, rue du Vieux-Colombier, in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was founded in 1913 by the theatre producer and playwright Jacques Copeau...
in 1923, as a student of Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin was a French actor, theater manager and director.-Life:Dullin was a student of Jacques Copeau...
, Decroux began to envision a newly defined vision of mime, and later developed an original, personal style of movement. His early "statuary mime" recalls Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
's sculptures. Later, more plastic forms were called "mime corporeal" or corporeal mime. An intellectual and theoretician, his body training was based in part on what modern dancers call “isolations,” in which body sections move in prescribed sequence. and, in part, on the physics of compensation required to keep the body in balance when the center of gravity is shifted.He is special in drama.
He wanted to enlist other students into a mime company, but the acting students were not very interested. When the Vieux Colombier closed in 1924, Decroux taught at the acting school of Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin was a French actor, theater manager and director.-Life:Dullin was a student of Jacques Copeau...
, the Atellier. Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
also came to the school, and the two worked closely for two years, producing corporeal mime
Corporeal mime
One subgroup of physical theater is corporeal mime. Its objective is to place drama inside the moving human body, rather than to substitute gesture for speech as in pantomime. In this medium, the mime must apply to physical movement those principles that are at the heart of drama: pause,...
pieces individually and together.
Returning from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1962, he opened his school in Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
where he taught almost until his death. Many hundreds of students passed though his school, and a new generation of mimes continue his research.
The art form Decroux created along these years differs completely from what had previously been known as traditional pantomime
Mime artist
A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...
. He did not develop the art of silence, but a true art of dramatic movement. As a consequence, it is his revolutionary art form that is often considered to be "classical" mime.
Publications
Paroles sur le Mime (Words on Mime), is one of his writings still in print today. In Words on Mime, Decroux outlined a "cure" for a theatre scene mired by tradition and lack of inventiveness, a theatre which was "suffocating under a heap of rubble". He argued that ordinary speech should be banned from the theatre for a limited period (30 years) or until the actor had "taken charge in his own house;" that is, was able to fully utilize his/her expressive physical abilities. All vocal noises were prohibited for 20 years, after which the voice (and eventually intelligible speech) would gradually reappear—controlled by the actor and used only when it was necessary and not because of laziness or lack of invention. His proscriptions are as follows:- For a period of 30 years, the proscription of every alien art. We shall replace the drawing-room setting with the setting of the theatre itself, our intention being solely to provide a background for all imaginable actions.
- For the first 10 years of this thirty year period: the proscription of any elevation on stage, such as stoolsChairA chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
, staircases, terracesTerrace (building)A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...
, balconies, etc. The actor will have to give the impression that he is higher and his partner lower, even when in reality they are side by side. Later, the authorization of certain forms of elevation on condition that they create even greater difficulties for the actor.
- For the first 20 years of this thirty year period: the proscription of any vocal sound. Then the acceptance of inarticulate cries for five years. Finally, words are accepted for the last five years of the thirty year period, but [they must be] invented by the actor.
- After this period of war: stability. Plays shall be composed in the following order:
- A. Rough outline of the written action serving as a basis for work.
- B. The actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
miming his action, then accompanying it with inarticulate sounds, then improvising his text. - C. Introduction of a dramaturgeDramaturgeA dramaturge or dramaturg is a professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas...
to translate the text into [the] choice language, without adding a word. - D. Reappearance of the alien arts, but practised by the actors. And when the actor is [the] master in his own home he shall see to the employment of dancers, singers and musicians for the indispensable and well-defined tasks. And then we shall see on the poster: 'text arranged by Mr. Secondo'." (Decroux, 1985, p. 26-7)
Legacy
Decroux's primary contribution is the art form, repertoire and technique of corporeal mime. He also worked as an actor, notably with Barrault in Les Enfants du Paradis, playing Anselme Deburau, father to Barrault's Jean-Gaspard DeburauJean-Gaspard Deburau
Jean-Gaspard Deburau, sometimes Debureau —born Jan Kašpar Dvořák—was a celebrated Bohemian-French mime...
. Decroux opened his own school of mime in 1941 and developed a technique in support of his artistic creations. The work had deep-going effect on artists like Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
, Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
, Shaike Ophir, Thomas Leabhart
Thomas Leabhart
Thomas Leabhart born 1944,Pennsylvania is a United States American mime.Leabhart studied at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux, Paris under the instruction of master mime and teacher Etienne Decroux from 1968-1972...
, Jewel Walker and Daniel Stein--though even they followed their own stars. A few artists who studied with Decroux continue to teach and develop the art form of corporeal mime, creating new pieces and shows and also performing pieces from the Decrouxian repertory. Students of Decroux and Corporeal Mime have since opened schools and created companies in Spain, Italy, Belgium or England. Their work aims at developing corporeal mime in new directions and creates encounters between their technical and artistic background and those of other artists.
Etienne Decroux has been called the “father of modern mime,” which is true to the extent that he is the father of his own style or corporeal mime
Corporeal mime
One subgroup of physical theater is corporeal mime. Its objective is to place drama inside the moving human body, rather than to substitute gesture for speech as in pantomime. In this medium, the mime must apply to physical movement those principles that are at the heart of drama: pause,...
(though Decroux credited Jacques Copeau with paternity, he claims only to have raised the child). There were and are other styles of modern mime unrelated to his. In addition to his contribution as a teacher, his influence on Barrault and Marceau created a tremendous impetus for mime in France, from where it spread. His work continues to stimulate and inspire mime artists.
Decroux's work was necessary to give mime the artistic autonomy it has today, as is the case with other art forms such as music or dance. He did not develop his vision in an abstract way, but in an extremely concrete one, drawing daily inspiration from people, jobs, situations and sport.
The years between 1940 and 1984 were fundamental to Decrouxian research. Directors such as Artaud, Copeau, Dullin, Craig and many other artists stimulated Decroux to undertake his research "ferociously" (according to Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...
's definition of Decroux's method) and for decades he worked to redefine the art of mime in a modern context.
In both the actor and the pantomime artist, gestures and facial expressions may predominate which are uncontrolled uses of the face and hands. These are defined by Decroux as "instruments of a lie" because they are bound to everyday habits. Decroux began to analyze the body, deconstructing and recomposing it and giving it a three-dimensional form, influenced by classical Greek sculpture and by the plastic art of Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
. In corporeal mime the prevalence of the trunk over other parts of the body is fundamental. The actor, according to the Decrouxian model, becomes totally expressive and is no longer awkwardly limited to the over-riding and uncontrolled use of the face and hands.
In terms of mime, one could speak not so much of the art of movement, but the art of attitude
Attitude (art)
Attitude as a term of fine art refers to the posture or gesture given to a figure by a painter or sculptor. It applies to the body and not to a mental state, but the arrangement of the body is presumed to serve a communicative or expressive purpose...
determined by harmony and achieved through the trunk and limbs, thought and form.
The art of sculpture tends to grasp attitude more than movement. As Rodin says, "The movement of the body is the passage from one attitude to another." For Decroux, attitude is more important than gesture or actual movement and he defines the latter as a succession of attitudes.
Today, Decroux's methodology is seen to be a modern and truthful way for the forward-thinking actor who feels the need to re-establish himself in a theater form in which stylization is both fundamental and vital.
Filmography
- Enfin voir Etienne Decroux bouger (2006)
- Art of Etienne Decroux, The (1961)
- Compagnons de Baal, Les (1968) TV
- Comme un cheveu sur la soupeComme un cheveu sur la soupeComme un cheveu sur la soupe , is a French comedy film from 1956, directed by Maurice Regamey, written by Yvan Audouard, starring Louis de Funès. The film is known under the title: "Crazy in the Noodle" or "Kindly Kill Me" ....
(1957)
- ... aka Crazy in the Noodle (USA)
- Bergère et le ramoneur, La (1953) (voice)
- ... aka The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird (USA)
- Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1949)
- ... aka Oh Amelia!
- ClochemerleClochemerleClochemerle is a 1934 French satirical novel by Gabriel Chevallier. It is set in a French village in Beaujolais inspired by Vaux-en-Beaujolais and deals with the ramifications over plans to install a new urinal in the village square.-Adaptation:...
(1948)
- Clochemerle
- ... aka Scandals of Clochemerle (USA)
- Capitaine Blomet (1947)
- Voyage surprise (1947)
- Petites annonces matrimoniales, Les (1947)
- Enfants du paradis, Les (1945)
- ... aka Children of Paradise (USA)
- Voyageur sans bagages, Le (1944)
- Le CorbeauLe CorbeauLe Corbeau is a 1943 French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The film was notable for causing serious trouble to its director after World War II because it had been produced by Continental Films, a German production company established in France in the early months of the war, and because...
(1943) (uncredited)
- ... aka The RavenLe CorbeauLe Corbeau is a 1943 French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The film was notable for causing serious trouble to its director after World War II because it had been produced by Continental Films, a German production company established in France in the early months of the war, and because...
- Adieu Léonard (1943)
- Escalier sans fin, L' (1943)
- Macao, l'enfer du jeu (1942)
- ... aka Gambling Hell (USA)
- Le Dernier tournantLe Dernier tournantLe Dernier tournant is a 1939 French drama film directed by Pierre Chenal, written by Charles Spaak and Henri Torrès, based on novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice" by James M...
(1939)
- Le Dernier tournant
- ... aka The Last Turning
- Belle étoile (1938)
- Affaire Lafarge, L' (1937)
- ... aka The Lafarge Case (USA)
- Commissaire est bon enfant, le gendarme est sans pitié, Le (1935)
- Affaire est dans le sac, L' (1932)
- ... aka It's in the BagIt's in the Bag"It's in the Bag" can refer to:* It's in the Bag, a pricing game played on the American television show The Price Is Right* It's in the Bag , the long-running New Zealand game show* L'affaire est dans le sac, a 1932 French film...
Students
- Samuel AvitalSamuel AvitalSamuel Ben-Or Avital is a professionally trained mime artist, teacher of mime, kinesthetic awareness, and Kabbalah.Samuel Avital was born Shmuel Abitbol in 1932, in the small town of Sefrou, near Fez, in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. At the age of 14, Avital left his home in Sefrou to travel to...
- Jean-Louis BarraultJean-Louis BarraultJean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
- Stephanie BeachamStephanie BeachamStephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
- Tony BrownTony BrownTony Brown may refer to:*Tony Brown , known as Tony Brown, Chief Minister of the Isle of Man*Tony Brown , Australian rules footballer...
- Andrea ClausenAndrea ClausenAndrea Clausen is a German stage actress, member of the Burgtheater ensemble.- Life and theatre career :...
- Roberto Escobar and Igón LerchundiRoberto Escobar and Igón LerchundiRoberto Escobar and Igón Lerchundi were pioneers in the art of miming in Argentina and in Latin America. In 1959 they both founded the "Compañía Argentina de Mimos" and toured around many countries in America and Europe...
- William FisherWilliam FisherWilliam Fisher may refer to:*William Arms Fisher , American music historian* William Frederick Fisher , American astronaut*William Fisher *William Webster Fisher...
- Reid Gilbert
- Thomas LeabhartThomas LeabhartThomas Leabhart born 1944,Pennsylvania is a United States American mime.Leabhart studied at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux, Paris under the instruction of master mime and teacher Etienne Decroux from 1968-1972...
- Ingemar LindhIngemar Lindh-Biography:Theatre director and pedagogue, born February 21 1945 in Gothenburg, Sweden. After his first theatrical experiences at the local theatre school Skara Skolscen and straw jobs at the Municipal Theatre in Stockholm, he educated himself at Stora Teaterns Ballettskola in Gothenburg, the...
- Marcel MarceauMarcel MarceauMarcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
- Kari MargolisMargolis Brown Adaptors CompanyThe Margolis Brown Adaptors Company is an internationally touring physical theatre company that also houses the Margolis Method Training Center now located in Highland, New York. It was established in New York City in 1984 by Kari Margolis and Tony Brown...
- Tony MontanaroTony MontanaroTony Montanaro was one of the great mime artists of the 20th century. Born in Paulsboro, New Jersey on September 10, 1927, Montanaro earned a theater degree from Columbia University and began performing stock theater with actors such as Jason Robards and Jackie Cooper...
- Corinne Soum
- Richmond ShepardRichmond ShepardRichmond Shepard is an American writer, director, producer and mime with a 50 year history in entertainment. He built, owned and operated his own theaters in Los Angeles on Theatre Row where he produced over 30 shows...
- Daniel Stein
- Steven WassonSteven WassonSteven Wasson , is the director of Theatre de l'Ange Fou, and the International School of Corporeal mime. He studied literature and drama at the University of Northern Colorado with Dr. Lloyd Norton, and mime with Dr. E. Reid Gilbert and Thomas Leabhart at the Valley Studio in Madison, Wisconsin...
- Ivan Bacciocchi
- Giuseppe Condello http://www.corporealmime.com/site/Biography.html
Sources
- Leabhart, ThomasThomas LeabhartThomas Leabhart born 1944,Pennsylvania is a United States American mime.Leabhart studied at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux, Paris under the instruction of master mime and teacher Etienne Decroux from 1968-1972...
(2007) Étienne Decroux, New York: Routledge.