This workshop has now sold out. If you would like to join the waiting list, please call our box office on 020 7739 6176 or email info@shoreditchtownhall.com with your full name and phone number.

MimeLondon returns to Shoreditch Town Hall for 2026 with another series of workshops for artists.

A comedian tells a joke.

The clown is the joke.

Led by Nola Rae, this workshop will give participants an insight into how to work without text, paying special attention to becoming an articulate mover able to express visual ideas with maximum clarity. All parts of the body (and mind) will come into play using mime, improvisation, eccentric moves and fancy footwork.

Participants will have the chance to discover aspects of the clown that are universal, as well as exclusive to themselves. The aim will be to build a character that is not trying to be funny but just is.

Suitable for the enthusiastic student of visual comedy, professional or amateur, who is reasonably fit and not afraid to move.

Students must wear loose fitting clothes and flexible shoes. Bring one juggling ball. Red noses optional.

Born in Sydney, Nola Rae immigrated to London in 1963. Trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, she danced at Malmö Stadsteater and at Tivoli Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen before turning to mime, studying with Marcel Marceau in Paris.

In 1974 she founded the London Mime Theatre with her partner Matthew Ridout and premiered her first solo show in France at the Nancy Festival in 1975. To date Nola has toured her work to 69 countries.

As a teacher, she has lead mime and clowning workshops worldwide. With Joseph Seelig, Nola instigated the London International Mime Festival (now called MimeLondon) which presented ground-breaking visual performance from 1977 to 2023. In 2008 she was appointed an M.B.E. for her services to Drama and to Mime by the late Queen Elizabeth II.