A mime is a terrible thing to waste.
Marcel MarceauRead
When you're in a play, 50 percent is the genius of the actor, 50 percent is the genius of the author. When a mime is not perfect, you see nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The collaboration between an actor and a playwright is crucial for a successful performance.
Marcel Marceau highlights the importance of both the actor's interpretation and the playwright's writing in theater. He suggests that a performance is a balance between the actor's skill and the author's creativity, emphasizing how each is essential to conveying emotion and meaning; if one is lacking, the whole performance can fall flat.
Themes
TheaterActorAuthorPerformanceArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a theater workshop, one could use this quote to discuss the balance of roles in drama.
More from Marcel Marceau
All quotes βIn a clown, we see what we do that makes us laugh and cry. I kept the white face, the tradition of the Pierrot. My clown became a romantic and stylized figure. I wanted to be an abstract and concrete figure, a symbol of humanity.
Marcel MarceauRead
Mime makes the invisible, visible and the visible, invisible.
Marcel MarceauRead
I am a company in myself. My repertoire has become a bible for all mimes in the world.
Marcel MarceauRead
Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.
Marcel MarceauRead
Mime, like music, knows neither borders nor nationalities.
Marcel MarceauRead
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