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thursday, november 9, 1978
daily nebraskan
arts and entertainment
Mimists' metaphor fills gap between acting, dancing
By Kent Warneke
Paul Gaulin has a talent, a very unique
talent that enables him to be, as his promo
tion states, a "mime extraordinaire." His
Tuesday night performance at the
Nebraska Union Ballroom proved that bill
ings do indeed come true.
Gaulin could be called "an entrepreneur
of the arts," for as an entertainer, he is
more than anyone could ask for. He
possesses the same traits when expressing
his views on the world of mime.
"Mime is not silent acting or simple
charades and if it was, it would have no
right to exist in the acting world," Gaulin
said.
"Mime is dramatic movement, an art to
fill the gap between acting and dancing."
The Paul Gaulin Mime Company
(Gaulin and other performers) effectively
carried out that definition .at their Tuesday
performance.
Two-timing
Gaulin lived in Paris for seven years.
Three of those years, he studied under
Marcel Marceau and De Creaux, quite poss
ibly the two foremost experts in the art
of mime.
"I studied under both of them at the
same time. I would get out of Marceau 's
class, and go right over to De Creaux's
class, a potentially dangerous situation if
one of them ever found out because there
is a dislike between the two."
"Monsieur and Madame De Creaux did
find out about it once and I was warned to
not go back to Marceau's class," Gaulin
said, "But I did anyway because I felt that
I needed not only one major style, but
two."
It is through Marceau and his popular
ity that the world has come to believe that
white-face pantomine is all that mime is,
when according to Gaulin, there are as
many styles as people performing mime.
"Mime is not just the white face panto
mime routine. There are probably 250
mime groups in North America and Canada
today and each has its own variations of
mime. The Mummenschanz Mime
Company has its own style, Marceau does
his own interpretations and so does De
Creaux," Gaulin said.
Criticism incongruous
"Marcel Marceau just recently began to
receive criticism from critics as being indif-
'
''fiCIi
r f rnuiu uy main, Dmmyaicy
Members of the Paul Gaulin Mime Company performed Tuesday evening in the Nebraska Union Ballroom.
ferent from what the norm of mime is
believed to be," Gaulin said, "I just can't
understand that criticism because every
performer is different. Marcel Marceau is a
stretch up to five feet, work hand-in-hand
with our physical attempts at creating
images," Gaulin said.
Gaulin 's Mime Company is in the
middle of a tnnr that ha taVn thm
genius in many aspects and I think we have throueh various Darts of Canada, including
. " . . . : . o
10 give crean wnere creau is aue.
Gaulin and his co-performers, Peter
Smith and Niki Tilroe, strive to create an
image for their audience and build ideas
around illusion through their performances
with the aid of music and props.
"Working with costumes and props is
great for building illusions. Masks on both
sides of the head, foam faces that have
pimples that light up in the dark and
Victorian age faces with necks that can
Toronto and will also include stops at New
York, Montreal and Mexico City. While
audiences have varied, Gaulin said they
enjoy college audiences the most.
Think in metaphors
Through his own perspective, Gaulin
comes up with ideas for performances.
"1 think in terms of metaphors when 1
create ideas," Gaulin said, "I first came up
with the theatrical element, use the meta
phors and finally convey the meaning.
"You have to be interested in arrogance
or you'll never be able to survive. You also
have to take humorous looks at somber
things, for instance grade school was a
horror story for me, the playground was a
real jungle and so I reflect on that," Gaulin
said.
Gaulin said he feels that the general
public is becoming more and more aware
of what mime really is and is accepting it.
"Mime has had the reputation of
something not physical," Gaulin said, "but
we do 250 shows a year and that's not
delicate in the least, we really have to
work. Mime is indeed physical, and I think
because of that it is growing, which is
really great."
Independents are on fringes of the seamy side of life
By Pete Mason
On the sideroads of television, off the
prime-time video interstates, there lies a
sort of Never-Never Land. It's the land of
Leave it to Beaver, Mel's Matinee, Flash
Gordon serials, Sgt. Bilko, The Honey
mooners, Northstar hockey, All-Star
Wrestling, and Gilligan 's Island. It's a place
which can only be reached by cable tele
vision. When the Rams are up by 29 points in
the first quarter on Monday night or Satur
day Night Live is repeating one of its worst
shows, I flick the magic dial and visit this
peculiar habitation. On election eve I spent
most of my time there.
Visiting this land is a bit like forsaking
The Stork Gub for the neighborhood
tavern; a little like trading champagne for
cheap wine; or Farrah Fawcett -Majors for
an inexpensive street -walker. Switching to
the alleyways of television is like taking a
walk on the seamy side of town. You feel a
little strange being there but sometimes it
can be exciting as hell.
Good, bad collage
The independent stations which create
this environment are on the fringes of the
medium. They've traded in the flash and
glitter of big time, network offerings for a
collage of everything good and bad tele
vision has ever had to offer. In a way these
sutions are anachronisms, resembling the
'"p! ay-it -as-it -lies," shoestring operations of
tt' -r'.-iiion's infancy.
V'i en I watch fringe television I'm re
n; i.d; j of a Simon and Garfunkel song of
the late 60s, "At the Zoo."
'Somethin' tells me it's all happenin' at
the zoo.
I do believe it, 1 do believe it's true."
Watching from one half-hour slot to the
next is like walking from cage to cage. Or
perhaps going down a carnival midway
from concession to concession. There is
great diversity. Where else can you see
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, followed by
Star Trek, followed by You 11 Never Get
Rich, followed by a travelogue of Norway?
"And the zookeeper is very fond of
rum."
Still possible to love
This Never-Never Land is the only place
you can fall in love with women who are,
in many instances, dead; dead in the real
world, that is. They're still alive on the
fringe. I'm in love with Jean Rogers, a
lovely, vulnerable blonde of the mid-30s
who was the original Dale Arden in the
Flash Gordon serials. When she shrinks
from the claws of the evil Ming the
Merciless, Conqueror of the Universe, I
want to be Buster Crabbe, if only for a few
seconds.
Watching some of these ancient shows
can often be a sobering experience. Not
only do they sometimes bluntly remind
you of how many years you've suddenly
and quite inexplicably put behind you,
they also dredge up old memories. One
Saturday morning while watching a
Monkees rerun, I suddenly realized that the
first time I saw that particular show, I had
just been fired from a job, lost one of the
great loves of my life, and gotten two new
pimples on my nose. Weaker souls would
have refused to ever venture into Never
Never Land again, but I'm a glutton for
punishment.
Only for the brave
If you're ever tired of the safe form
ulas, or the chrome and shiny plastic of
prime-time television and you've brave
enough to walk through mean streets at
midnight, fringe television may be the
place for you. Visiting there is a little like
cavorting with a painted lady, or taking
a big swig from her beer bottle without
first wiping it off on your coatsleeve,
knowing full well you could catch
something.
p.
h