Running over nineteen days from January 11th- 29th, London International Mime Festival 2012 showcases companies from the UK, Australia, Belgium, France, Japan, Spain and Switzerland, presenting works that feature puppetry, animation, circus skills, magic, masks and object theatre. Performances take place at Soho Theatre, Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth’s Hall, Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre, Barbican Theatre and The Pit, Roundhouse Studio Theatre and Jacksons Lane, along with talks and workshops.
Opening the festival is Blind Summit’s The Table, a ballet of disembodied heads and a story told by pictures emerging from a briefcase. Blind Summit created the puppetry for Anthony Minghella’s seminal production of Madam Butterfly and Simon McBurney’s A Dog’s Life, and The Table won a Fringe First award in Edinburgh.
Other British offerings include Gandini Juggling’s Smashed, influenced by the works of Pina Bausch; Theatre Ad Infinitum’s Translunar Paradise, about love, death and enduring love; Invisible Thread’s eccentric fairytale Plucked and Sugar Beast Circus offer an exploration of quantum physics in {Event[Dimension]:}.
The first incarnation of the London International Mime Festival took place in 1977 and it is London’s longest established international theatre festival.
Diana Damian’s in-depth article on LIMF can be found here. Full listings and tickets can be found on the LIMF website.