When pantomime is stronger than words.

This morning my brother showed me one theater project in Russia, where musicians take part in performances, performing pantomime, acrobatics, playing the musical instruments themselves.

And one fragment from their performance reminded me one fenomena from our theatrical art in Russia of the 20th century.

There was an actor Vyacheslav Polunin, who founded the troupe and the theater. His style was special - a mixture of pantomime and «comedy of positions».

Today, few people know the name of Jean Louis Barro, although it was the greatest mime of the twentieth century. I saw him in the movie "Les Enfants du paradis" (1945).

Vyacheslav Polunin was also a mime, but his art was not limited to "a movement without words." Many of his compositions were based only on a few movements.

Sometimes he could just look into the hall without moving, and after 2-3 minutes of silence people could start laughing or crying, because he filled the space with his feelings without words.

Here are a few records of his permormances.

1. Here you will hear a conversation between a man and a woman on the phone. Polunin does not say words - it's just a set of sounds and intonations, imitating the nature of people, their relationship to each other. There are only three words "cinema" (кино), "love" (любовь) and "detective"(детектив):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mksOt0S9HoU

2. This composition shows the situation on the dance floor. Tango

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DDrRBHt1x8

3. A scene in a movie theater while watching a movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_PylqmHnjU

4. Loneliness (Farewell at the station / Hanger)

Unfortunately, the author of the music for this video has forbidden viewing and we can see only the video series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlRb6boIJ8I