PRE-ORDER NOW - Published: 10/12/2026

This book affords a rare first-hand insight into the dramaturgy, techniques and aesthetics of the father of modern mime from a pupil/practitioner perspective and thereby offers a better understanding of much 20th century theatre and art in general. In this book, we are given unprecedented access to working with the father of modern mime, ?tienne Decroux, through the first-hand experiences of his student, assistant and successor, Corinne Soum. She offers insights into her time working as Decroux's student then assistant, from analysing his work and his multiple approaches to improvisation to her promise to him to continue his legacy - a legacy that has now been in existence for over 40 years. This is essentially thanks to Corinne Soum and her partner, Steven Wasson (also previously an assistant of Decroux's), and their relentless focus on the transmission of Decroux's 60-year project of establishing and developing corporeal mime technique. We see that promise and that legacy in practice, from Soum and Wasson's teaching at The ?tienne Decroux School and their founding of the company Le Theatre de l'Ange Fou to major reconstructions of Decroux's repertoire. Supplementing Soum's own first-hand experiences is a contributed essay by Steven Wasson, as well as an interview by her and Wasson with ex-student Marcel Marceau on the subject of ?tienne Decroux. A contextual introduction also helps situate Decroux and corporeal mime in the wider theatre landscape of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Binding: Paperback / softback