MimeLondon

The London International Mime Festival was a true city staple, bringing weird and wild physical theatre from across the globe to the capital each year. Rarely ‘mime’ in the stereotypical sense, the fest brought mind-expanding theatre to London for 47 years straight. The 2023 edition was its last, but MimeLondon is the same idea in all but name, and returns for its third year in January 2026. 

While LIMF was staged across multiple venues, the general idea behind MimeLondon is that it’s all staged at the Barbican. However, with the iconic interantional arts centre shut this year for upgrade works, MimeLondon will once again go travelling, with shows at Sadler’s Wells and The Place (and in October a single show Qui Som/Who Are We? at the Southbank Centre, though this listing doesn’t cover that for the sake of clarity).

The four shows in MimeLondon ‘proper’ are physical theatre legends Gecko’s returning dystopian classic The Wedding (Sadler’s Wells, Jan 21-24), which was a big hit at LIMF in 2019; Sadiq Ali Company’s Tell Me (The Place, Jan 23-24), a Chinese pole and aerial piece about a woman navigating an HIV diagnosis; Moliere award-winning French Compagnie Le Fils du Grand Réseau’s comedy Bigre/Fishbowl (Peacock Theatre, Jan 28-31); and LIMF veterans Ockham’s Razor with intimate but playful duet Collaborator (The Place, Jan 29-31).