Corporeal Mime can be described as a technique that allows the performer to do what he wants, not what he can. The rigorous form of theatre focusses on optimally utilising the body on stage and was developed in France in the 1920s by Étienne Decroux, a French film and theatre actor, who trained with the legendary French dramatist Jacques Copeau.

Gaurav Saini, who assists Irfana Majumdar, enacting the movements involved in Corporeal Mime. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

Decroux spent half his lifetime developing the art form aimed at placing drama within the human body rather than substituting gestures for speech. He wanted to put the actor at the centre of creation and performance, and the body at the centre of the actor’s work, thus enabling the actor to be more than just an interpreter of the text and instead become a creator.