Ronald Smith Wilson – ‘Columbus & Co’, Mime Poster for City Lit Theatre

Description

Ronald Smith Wilson was a multi-talented English actor, mime artist, dancer, designer, painter, printmaker, choreographer and director. He is perhaps most notable as a mime soloist at the Pantomime Theatre, Tivoli gardens, Copenhagen.

Ronald Wilson worked as mime, dancer, designer, choreographer, artist and director in the British Isles, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, and Canada. He had the good fortune to commence his ballet and theatre training with Marie Rambert. After studying at the Royal College of Art and designing for the Ballet Rambert he continued his dance and drama training with some of the most distinguished teachers in London, Paris and Copenhagen. Not least at the ‘City Lit’ where he was fortunate to study ballet with Claud Newman, acting with Dorothea Alexander, improvisation and movement with M.L.Sigley. As the recipient of a Winston Churchill Award he was able to study the tradition of classical pantomime as preserved in the Bournonville ballets and ‘Casorti’ pantomimes in Denmark. In 1983 a Gulbenkian Foundation award enabled him to continue his study of ‘Modern’ mime in Paris and Prague. Amongst his principal movement and mime teachers have been Audrey de Vos, Birger Bartholin, Claude Chagrin, Gerard le Breton, Jacques le Coq and especially Etienne Decrous – the Father of the modern movement in mime. From 1956 – 1976 Ronald had been a soloist at the famous Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli Copenhagen. There working in an ensemble comprising mimes, dancers and circus artistes he had the especial honour to work under the direction of the great ‘Royal Danish’ mime and Balletmaster Niels Bjorn Larsen. He also taught Drama at Morley College, in the department of Fashion and Textiles at St Martins School of Art and at the Guildford School of Acting. As well as organising short courses in Art Schools, Arts Centres and Universities he was guest professor at the Canadian Mime School in winter 1975.