Italian Mime Suicide: the tears of a clown
28 Apr 2022

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Najim Chaoui 

Mimes get no respect. For the most part, the stereotypical image of a mime is used as a punchline. Often literally, physical violence towards mimes is sadly condoned by our current culture. At least their cousins the clowns were able to evolve from beloved conveyers of mirth to terrifying. Way back in 2015, when Italian Mime Suicide was germinating in the brain of Adam Paolozza (Paolozzapedia, The Cave, Flashing Lights) he told me, "When I came back from school in France, a friend gave me an article about an Italian mime who jumped off a building and committed suicide because no-one appreciated his art and his lover left him." He also expressed his belief in the intrinsic value of mime and clowning and rued the disrepute the two arts were currently held in. Italian Mime Suicide is Paolozza's manifesto and a memorial to a mime lost to grief.

Italian Mime Suicide is at its best when Paolozza and his exemplary eager-to-please cohorts - Rob Fettham (House Guests), Nicholas Eddie and Ericka Leobrera - demonstrate just how entertaining and illuminating mime can be. Feetham wrestles with an exercise ball and we laugh as he hits the floor in a slapstick slam. A dramatic pause and he offers a muted "Ouch," where we laugh again. But the laugh sticks in our throats because while the timing is impeccable, we are also aware that it is expressing real pain. As the portentous surtitles have announced, "It's tragic . . . but funny." Paolozza's disgruntled and ignored mime character expresses it best when, as part of a disasterous talk show appearance, he is encouraged to "do the box." Begrudgingly he begins and we titter at the cliché bit. Then we see Paolozza's muscle memory kick in and the box becomes real. His panic becomes real. And we are suddenly watching art. And it is moving us. We transition from laughter to admiration to experiencing the emotions Paolozza radiates.

Dashed, or realized, expectations are a central component of comedy. Italian Mime Suicide opens with lush semi-classical Italian songs as we take our seats. Then SlowPitchSound arrives to warm the audience up with a combination of DJing and sound effects. The technology is mildly impressive but when he underscores with the soaring violins and vocals of the previous soundtrack, the past and the future meld and both are better for it. It is an opening aural argument for Paolozza's later statement that mime is the foundation, the table, on which all other art forms are supported. That is the only weakness in Italian Mime Suicide, that mime fails and explanations need to be tagged on. Paolozza and the cast's artistry could prevail and demonstrate the thesis. Paolozza also notes that mime can "go beyond language." He should have trusted that.

Italian Mime Suicide zips by - a show this absorbing and intriguing deserves to be twice as long - and the multitude of ideas careening off and around the stage don't sink in until after. One is left with much to ponder. If mime is so discounted, why is Marcel Marceau a household name? Is lipsynching (the talk show is rendered outrageously and accurately through the art associated most with drag) another form of mime? Why is a pirouette more admired than a pratfall when both require the utmost physical skill? Why are all the portentous surtitles so funny but also deadly accurate? But those questions came after. Throughout Italian Mime Suicide I was too mesmerized by what was happening before me. The tearful skill with which Paolozza applied greasepaint and then demonstrated it was the opposite of a mask. A ridiculous and beautiful set piece referencing the actual suicide, that had the audience in stitches until we gasped at a trompe l'oeil that dazzled and broke our collective hearts.

Paolozza's bitter mime cries out that "we mime the intangible." When they do, they are brilliant. When they struggle to express the intangible, they devolve slightly into the thought-provoking. Smokey Robinson's prophetic lyrics have echoed through novels, films and bio-pics, but Italian Mime Suicide links it to culture in its entirety. And directly to our visceral responses. And earns the respect mimes deserve.