1. Pantomime
Theatre Arts

2. What is Pantomime? Acting without talking
Comes from the Greek word “pantominios,” which means “all” “imitator” (imitate all)

3. PANTOMIME Imitates actions from real life
Can be part of normal performances
Appears realistic
Conveys a specific action
No props; has imaginary objects
Must have a beginning, middle, and end—thru story

4. Why Study Pantomime? It is the first phase of acting
Body
Voice
Mind
The language of action is universal
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!

5. Importance to Acting
the audience will notice your body movement on stage before you speak
it is the basis to acting, you must do more than speak words on stage
characters are portrayed and identified by movement, facial expression, gestures

6. History of Pantomime Oldest means of dramatic expression
Successful hunts
Victorious battles
First actors used to express their hopes for the future, along with:
Dance
Chants

7. History of Pantomime Silent movies Charlie Chaplin (early 1900’s)
Marcel Marceau (1950’s)
“the language of the heart”

8. Key Elements of Pantomime
Simplicity-Simplicity of the story will help the audience understand what is happening. Don’t cloud the story with too many details.
Accuracy-Makes the presentation believable and the actions are correct.
Consistency-Keep all the items in pantomime the same size, shape, weight and in the same place.
Exaggeration-Make the action in pantomime bigger than life, helping the audience see your action with more clarity.

9. Facial movement and emotion
Surprise: wide eyes, brows lift, mouth in a O
Happy: eyes squint, brows lift, mouth curves up

10. Sad: narrow eyes with lids dropped, outer brow turns down, mouth turns down
Anger: eyes narrow, brows furrowed, mouth twisted down, lips curl out and down into a sneer, jaw drops and sets firmly

11. Actions and Personality
strong-willing confident personality
stands tall, broad gestures, definite movements, actions away from the body
shy personality
drawn in, small gestures, slower movements, actions down and towards body

12. DOs and DON’Ts DO DON’T DO exaggerate facial expression
DO show the shape, size, weight of objects
DO focus fully on the task
DO show the audience who you are, where you are and what is happening
DO plan a beginning, middle and end
DO include conflict or a problem
DON’T
DON’T mouth words
DON’T make any noise
DON’T use props
DON’T include body contact
DON’T include violence, weapons, etc.

13. Gesture and Facial Expressions Practice
Relief (“Phew!”)
Impatience (“You’re late!”)
Calling someone over (“Come here!”)
“No, thank you.”
Excitement (“I can’t wait!”)
Begging (“Pretty please?!?”)
Approval (“That’s great!”)

14. Object Practice-Metamorphosis
Talk on the phone
Open a can of soda
Type on the computer
Pick up a pencil
Pick up a bowling ball

15. Individual Pantomimes
Keep it Simple! Examples:
Walk along the street and get bubble gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
Try to open your locker. It is jammed.
Wash your face and get soap in your eyes. Look for a towel.
Put on a pair of shoes that are too tight.
You have been robbed and your hands are tied behind your back. Try to call the police on the telephone.
You can’t find the right key to open the lock on the door.
Drink a large glass of water and then discover you have swallowed a bug.
Eat a piece of candy and then realize you ate a piece of cat food by mistake.

16. Let’s Make Soup!
ACTIVITY: Have everyone sit in the circle and you have an imaginary pot that you're going to pass around the circle.  Tell the kids when they get the pot they can put any ingredient in the soup they want.  They have to be sure to keep the shape of the pot, and the heaviness, etc.  When they are done putting their ingredient in the pot, they pass the pot to the next person and the class guesses what the item was.  They can get creative with their ingredients.  It usually starts off with vegetables, etc., but inevitably the kids will start putting other things in there... shoes, snot, hair, etc.  When the pot gets back to you, you then tell them they have to TRY the soup.  So you pass the pot around again, this time with a spoon, and they have to work on their expressions as they taste the nasty soup.  It's super fun and the kids love it.