For printable copy of MIME BASICS instructions, click on the word: INSTRUCTIONS
To see a video of MIME BASICS being taught, click on the word: VIDEO

Mime, of course, is acting without words. Great mime requires concentration and excellent body control–and can involve years of training. But for the purposes of an introductory creative dramatics course for younger actors, it’s enough to emphasize a few basic principles. 

1) Try to simplify your movements and make them specific and precise. If you clearly visualize your imagined surroundings it will help the audience to imagine them as well.

2) Once you’ve established an imaginary object with mime, continue to handle it as though it were real. Don’t ruin the illusion by suddenly ignoring it. For example, if you mime that you’re drinking from a cup, don’t walk away and leave the cup floating in midair. Instead, mime taking it with you or setting it down somewhere.

3) Try to remember the exact location of imagined items and scenic elements, e.g., if you mime opening a door to enter a room, remember where the doorknob is–so you can return to the precise spot when you exit the room. Or if you mime eating on an imaginary table, don’t later walk through the “table” later in the scene. 

4) Try to give weight and volume to the objects you mime, e.g., if you lift an imaginary box, let the audience see how heavy it is. Or if you push an imaginary shopping cart, show with your curled fingers that the handle of the cart has volume. Don’t just grab the handle with your fingers squeezed together in a closed fist.

© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.