Etienne Decroux Quotes
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Mime is exemplary. It makes one want to do as it does. It makes one want to rise up.
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What man lacks most is will, constancy of will. Man works to earn his living, and when he finishes his day … He wants to sleep. He is lazy where public things are concerned. We let catastrophes come, we let them ripen. They don’t come because men want them to; they come because men want to sleep. ‘We can’t do anything about it. If it must happen, better not to know about it. Humanity has always been severely threatened. The threats are not diminishing. But one must sleep, after all. Sleep.
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When an actor … is lying on the ground, it is a whole nation lying down. And when he rises slowly up, you see the play of his muscles. After that he comes and goes, lifts things, throws them. He’s self-reliant man, and there’s his rapport with Promethean art.
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Above all, the mime must want to say to men (because his muscles are working), ‘everything is possible. It’s will that’s lacking, not strength.’ Art should be exemplary. It’s almost condemned to be exemplary.
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One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.
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But one can’t do mime while sleeping.
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The idea of difficulty animates us all the time. We don’t want man to be an angel; we want him to be a hero. That is to say, a man like us, but who does extraordinary things. He jumps, yes, but in spite of the law of gravity. And everything he does is always ‘in spite of.’