Nola Rae MBE (born 1950) is a

mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

Biography

Early life and education

Rae was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, in 1949 and migrated to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with her family in 1963. Originally hoping to become a dancer, at 16 she began training at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

in London and then danced professionally at Malmö Stadsteater and Tivoli Garden's Pantomime Theatre in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. However, realising that she might not succeed in ballet, she turned to mime and studied with

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French mime artist and actor most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", performing professionally worldwide ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

.Noble, Will (2011)
Mime clown Nola Rae
, ''The Prague Post'', 27 July 2011, retrieved 2011-07-29

Career

She was a founder member of the French-based International Research Troupe Kiss, co-founded Friends Roadshow with Jango Edwards, and was a member of the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

Company. In 1974, she founded the London Mime Theatre with Matthew Ridout, with whom she has worked ever since. Nola and Joseph Seelig were the original instigators of the London International Mime Festival, which is held in January each year, and has been running since 1977. Rae premiered her first solo show at Le Festival du Monde in Nancy in 1975. Since then she has created 12 full-length shows and toured the world. She combines mime, clowning, puppetry and dance and has performed in over 60 countries. A great lover of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, she created ''Shakespeare the Works'' with John Mowat, where four of the Bard's tragedies were turned into comedies, and included a version of ''Hamlet'' for two hands. She later tackled ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', where the fairies were represented by puppet salad vegetables. In 1990, Rae radically changed her style and began to present full length comic dramas where one wordless character is developed over an evening. One example is ''Elizabeth’s Last Stand'', directed by

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Complicité, Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manch ...

. It explores the loneliness of an old woman when she develops delusions of grandeur and tries to recreate the court of Elizabeth I of England in her living room. This was followed in 1993 by a two-woman show with the contemporary dancer Sally Owen. Directed by Carlos Trafic, from Argentina, ''And the Ship Sailed On'' explored the clash of two women of different cultures who are forced to share a small cabin on a nightmarish voyage of immigration. In ''Mozart Preposteroso'' Rae presents a clown's fantasy on the life of a musical phenomenon. ''Exit Napoleon Pursued by Rabbits'' was inspired in part by

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

's ''

The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound f ...

''. It deals with dangerous charisma and how to get it, following the transformation of a hobo into

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and then

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

.Peacock, Louise (2011) ''Serious Play: Modern Clown Performance'', Intellect, , p. 79 ''Home Made Shakespeare'' with the Swedish actor Lasse Äkerlund has her using her voice on stage for the first time. She also gives workshops, lecture demonstrations and master classes. Rae is also in demand as a director, her speciality being subverting tragedies, by turning them into clown plays. She began with ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' by Garcia Lorca, performed by the Swedish all-women clown group Teater Manjaña. They won the Swedish Humour prize for the funniest show of 1996. Other winners were

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide repertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard St ...

for her biography and Lee Evans who won the international humour prize. She has also directed ''Miss Julie'' by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

for the same group, a hit at the 1998 Strindberg Festival in Stockholm. The latest directing project in Sweden is ''Ben Hur'' set in an old people's home. Her directing work in Norway includes ''Doña Qu''ixote by Coby Omvlee and Ibsen's ''The Wild Duck'' for the Oslo Nye Teater. She also directed ''The Three Musketeers'' (the clown version) for Les Anges Perdus in Vienna 2006. Over the years, Rae has made numerous television appearances. They include a BBC Playhouse Special ''After You Hugo'', where she played a French dancer who impersonates the Russian ballerina

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

in variety theatre. She has been the subject of two documentaries : BBC Arena and Meridian Television’s The Pier.

Awards

Rae received a Total Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, the Charlie Rivel Award for Clowning from the Festival of Amandola; and was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in the United States in 2000. In 2008, Rae was awarded an MBE by the Queen in her New Year's Honours List for services to drama and to mime.Smith, Alistair (2007)
Kenyon, Squire and Lewis receive New Year Honours
, ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'', 31 December 2007, retrieved 2011-07-29

References

External links

*http://www.nolarae.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Nola 1949 births Living people Australian mimes Members of the Order of the British Empire Australian expatriates in England Australian emigrants to England Entertainers from London Entertainers from Sydney