You recently went to see a solo mime performance entitled “A journey on the MTR at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.” The mime was about a man’s experience on his way to work on the MTR. The performance was funny and entertaining. Write a review of the performance for the school newsletter, describing what the mime was about, aspects of the artist’s performance and how the audience responded.
An empty MTR carriage with six seats, two grab poles, two trains doors and a platform. They were the only props used in the solo mime of Charlie, “A journey on the MTR”. How much fun could you expect to get with such a simple set? Once again, the famous comedian, Charlie Jim, has proven to the audience with his brilliant talent. He played his way to work of a common office worker, Bill, who faced many unluckily incidents in the Black Friday morning. His performance has amused everyone in the theatre and made them laugh a lot. Let me tell you more about the mime.
It took place in Kwun Tong station where Bill had to travel to Central. It was a black Friday as mentioned so there should be some unfortunate things awaiting him, as expected. Bill went on the train and started falling asleep on his seat while some school kids were messing around. Needless to say, Bill and the school kids were acted by same person. The actor interchanged costumes swiftly in order to present different roles and it showed he had gone through countless practice. With the noisy environment, Bill could not sleep well and skinned these kids alive.
One of the children was frightened and cried while the others were furious. They stepped on Bill’s foot and hit him. The soloist had to fight with himself, which was to hit and to be hit at the same time creating an awkwardly funny scene! The audience clapped and laughed loudly with the end of the first part.
Arriving at North Point, Bill had to move to the Island Line and cross the long platform before reaching his destination. Dressed like an athlete, Bill looked serious and showed his strong determination to rush through the crowds and strive for a seat before the train doors closed. During the “race”, he pretended to run lingeringly as he was not fit and he tried not to fall down. In such slow motion, the audience could see his lively body language which he jumped, turned around and skipped like flashlight. However, he really did slip just before the yellow lines. The audience cheered for him but he still could not catch the train. Although the way he fell down was sort of elegant, it was still so hilarious that everyone in the theatre burst into laughter.
Finally he got on the train to Central but sadly, he had to squeeze in the carriage with other passengers. The audience could tell that by his vivid facial expressions even though no others were beside him actually. He was sometimes packed to one grab poles, train doors and so on and the audience could get his feelings in every position. Bill’s acting was truly amazing, which touched the audience deeply.
Through his journey to work on the MTR, I could understand the hurdles of Bill’s even without a single dialogue. The mime was very relaxing and easy to understand and it was entirely the effort of the artist’s rich body language, wonderful emotions and non-stop practice beforehand. It must be the most deserved drama recently if you want to giggle for a night!