Sun 24 Jan 2021 05.30 EST
My heart went out to Jonathan Agnew, having to commentate on Englandâs first Test by watching the television in his attic instead of being in Sri Lankaâs Galle stadium, because of a Covid travel ban. âYou donât feel in the game,â Aggers told a BBC news reporter, after opening
Test Match Special from his home. I know how he feels, but there are compensations to on-screen experiences.
This week, from my attic, Iâve been watching short films commissioned by the London international mime festivalâs ever resourceful directors, Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, reacting to current restrictions by moving events online. For the first time since its 1977 debut, people worldwide can experience the crazy diversity of work for which the festival is justly famous.
Jacqui Beckford was among the highlights of the LIMF s principal five shorts
Credit: Anna Arthur
The boon of the London International Mime Festival is that – in normal years – some of the greatest exponents of this loosely defined theatrical form convene on the capital to brighten the dreariest month. The concomitant drag, though, is you have to leave the warmth of your home, must battle to the venue (not always central) and can be out again within an hour (brevity goes with the habitually, not automatically wordless territory).
So I find myself applauding, if not loudly, then maybe more Marcel Marceau-ishly, the pandemic-curtailed programme of 2021, which shifts the entire shebang online. In terms of novelties – aside from free talks across the fortnight and a plethora of workshops (mostly already signed-up-for) – it’s a much reduced affair this time. The principal “offer” is five short films. On top of that, however, there’s a “videotheque” section which