Mime is trickery by consensus. Everybody knows that's not your arm sneaking out from behind your back - it's a snake. Nobody sees the ball you've tossed into the basket, but everyone knows it's good for two points. You've agreed to play together.
Nuances are a way to add color to your illusions. Instead of just drawing a razor across your face to suggest shaving, watch what's really happening and emphasize that action. Nuances aren't gimmicks as much as new ways of seeing simple activities and objects. Some arise from close observation of your body's dynamics. What happens when someone grabs you by the collar and yanks you off the scene? You don't expect to go that way, so half of you remains in place. It's how your body expresses the surprise, as well as your face, that inspire the appropriate mime gesture.
Sometimes exaggerating a characteristic aspect of an action show clearly what you're doing. When you're singing, the vibrato is happening inside your throat. If you mime that action, you call attention to the warble by wiggling your head or your Adam's apple. Other illusions come from isolating a unique action. Looked at simply, a butterfly is fluttering. You don't need wings and antennae. Your fingers fluttering as your hand circles through the air is enough.
While you're working out your routines or just playing around, ideas and gestures will pop up. Use them. Just as no two mimes look alike, move alike, or think alike, neither do they have the same imaginations. What you come up with will be your own unique style.
Kay Hamblin: A Playbook of Silent Fantasy
Growing
As you grow from seed to flower, isolate one part of your body and sprout from there. Try your elbow; your toe instead of your finger.Shaving
As your razor scrapes across your stubble, stretch your face away from the blade. Your chin goes up as the blade comes down.Tooth brushing
When you're brushing your teeth, move your tongue along the inside of your cheek to indicate where the brush is in your mouth. Be sure you're leaving space between lips for the toothbrush. Coordinating the movements of your hand holding the brush and your tongue is the real trick here.Smoking
Inflate and lift your chest for the inhale, deflate and lower for the exhale. Always leave a little hole between your lips for the cigarette, then the smoke. Blow smoke rings, quickly forming an 'O' with your lips and simultaneously dropping your chin for each circle. Let your eyebrows announce each puff.Drinking
When you're holding a glass or bottle, keep your fingers in place around it. Tilt your head back as you quaff your beverage. Puff out your cheeks with air as you slosh the liquid around inside your mouth. Swallow, bobbing your head up and down with each gulp. Hiccup! Jerk your torso up, then your head, as the hiccup gets sucked in.Sitting in a chair
Maintaining a straight back, bend your knees just to the point you can comfortably keep your balance. Cross your legs at the angle, or place an angle on the opposite knee. (At first you may feel more like an advanced yogi than a person relaxing in a chair!)Leaning on a mantle
Place your elbow on the mantle and lean your torso in the same direction. Your legs an hips remain straight. Let your hand dangle freely from the wrist. Prop your head on your hand. Pretend the mantle is a bar at a saloon and order a drink. Whatever you decide to do with your hand, your illusion depends upon keeping your elbow solidly in place or returning it to the same height.