Mime has travelled a long way from the cliche of white-faced tramps feeling theatrically around invisible walls. Europe pullulates with physical theatre companies that explore every dialect of silent body language from puppeteering to trampolining, showcased in the splurge of serendipity that is the annual London International Mime Festival.
Keep some ticket money for the rarely visiting Philippe Genty company, who are from France, the world centre of advanced mime practice. Mime is a license to surprise - clown Wolfe Bowart saves the moon's light from going out, acrobat Jean-Baptiste Andre balances eye-poppingly in a digital landscape - though tweeness is an occasional hazard. Ismene Brown
