Georges Wague

In the early 1890s Wague participated in the soirées of La Plume, the literary magazine founded by Léon Deschamps, where he was noticed for his verse recitals.

Xavier Privas proposed to sing songs while Georges Wague mimed them, creating a new artistic expression they called "cantomime".

[2] The established mime Félicia Mallet assisted Wague in developing his highly individual style during the early part of his career.

[2] To revive his career after his return from military service in 1898, Georges Wague began to participate in soirées of the "Veillées artistiques de Plaisance".

Due to rivalry with other performers of cantomimes, Wague created a company with Christiane Mandelys (or Mendelys), who became his wife, to preserve his rights as inventor of the concept.

For this he changed his stage play: his mime consisted of gestures reduced to the simplest attitudes to express the full range of thought in constant movement.

[4] Wague performed in many stage pantomimes including Scaramouche, Barbe Bluette and L'homme aux poupées, and played silent roles in ballet and opera.

[6] In 1925, he performed with the flamenco dancer Antonia Mercé y Luque, "La Argentina", in El amor brujo at the Théâtre Trianon-Lyrique.

It endeavors to depict a feeling or state of mind solely through the general attitude of the body and the expressions that the extraordinary mobility of the face makes almost unlimited.

He said, "With the blaze of a look, the cadence of a step, a torso rotation, a wrinkling of the features, a mime artist can characterize ulterior motives such as hatred, remorse, desire, enjoyment or disgust, which the most warmly described and dramatically well-stated phrases can only superficially provide.

Georges Wague in one of the cantomimes (pantomimes performed to off-stage songs) of Xavier Privas. Poster by Charles Léandre , 1899
Georges Wague as Pere Pierrot in the 1907 film of L'Enfant prodigue