What does 'mugging' mean?

[Jay94]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 8:47am

I must seem really uninformed but I'd really like to know what the theatre term 'mugging' means.

[followspot]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 8:57am

mug1
m?g/
verbinformal
gerund or present participle: mugging
1.
attack and rob (someone) in a public place.
"he was mugged by three men who stole his bike"
synonyms: assault, attack, set upon, beat up, rob; More
dated
fight or hit (someone).
2.
make faces, esp. silly or exaggerated ones, before an audience or a camera.
"he mugged for the camera"

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 9:00am

In other words, what Kathy Lee Gifford does for a living.

[D2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 9:00am

Overacting.

"Mug" is a slang term for "face." "Mugging" is using outrageous facial expressions to grab attention, as in the term "Mugging for the camera."

That's one explanation, at least. I'm sure the greater minds here will have others, as well. (< example of "mugging.)

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 9:33am

I think that it's making exagerrated facial expressions deliberately aimed not at another character but at the audience.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 10:09am

See Larkin, Leigh Ann.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 11:17am

Lucille Ball in "I Love Lucy" was the perfect example of mugging. In fact, she had different names for her mugging.

When she screwed up her face and cried "But Ricky" she called that the Puddle.

When she curled up her lip and went "Ewwwww" that was the Spider.

The third one I've forgotten the name for, but it was when she knew something was wrong and she got that open mouth and bug eyes.

Updated On: 9/8/13 at 11:17 AM

[jpbran]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 12:25pm

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 12:57pm

I don't consider what Lucy did as mugging because I look at the term "mugging" as something negative, as I pointed out with Kathy lee Gifford. It is done by performers who are extremely self conscious and not a comedic genius such asLucille Ball.

[ullabelt]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:01pm

I would agree - I have always thought of mugging as a negative thing. Face pulling that takes you out of the moment. If it works in context I wouldn't call it mugging.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:20pm

Actually mugging wasn't negative until the "acting" teachers made it so. Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, etc all came along and brought natural acting to the theater which didn't include mugging.

Mugging was very popular in the British Music Halls, in American Vaudeville, in Yiddish Theatre. What Lucille Ball did was mugging because it was instinctual and she hadn't been taught natural acting. You will also see Carol Burnett do it to great effect, especially when she is playing the parody of Norma Desmond.

Mugging is a negative thing when done out of the context of comedy (you see it in soap operas) or when it's done one too many times (yes I'm looking at you Nathan Lane).

With Kathy Lee Gifford, she hasn't refined the technique of mugging and doesn't know how to properly use it, therefore she doesn't do it correctly.

Updated On: 9/8/13 at 01:20 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:25pm

There is good mugging and bad mugging.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:27pm

I think kathy Lee is an expert at mugging at its worst. She could teach a class in it.

[ullabelt]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:30pm

well said Goth

[ullabelt]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:30pm

can anyone tell me what cough means? In terms of performance...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:32pm

Mugging is very much by instinct. I took an acting class where one of the students was a black woman who really had the instinct for it. With one look, she could have the audience screaming with laughter. It was wonderful watching her because she knew how to control it and work it for maximum effect in a scene.

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:33pm

I am not a fan of Kathy Lee but she isn't really an actress, is she? She's a television host. I've never seen her on stage or in a movie where I would say she was "mugging". I am just wondering why people are singling her out for mugging when she isn't even primarily an actress.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 1:42pm

Actually, a lot of people get mugging mixed up with "signaling". Signaling is when you tell the audience what you're about to do. "I'm getting ready to cry. Watch me cry." You see this a lot in community theater because they don't trust themselves to be in the moment.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 2:07pm

" I am just wondering why people are singling her out for mugging when she isn't even primarily an actress."

You're arguing semantics. I don't care what you call her. She's on tv, there's a camera. She's quite well known for mugging. Haven't you ever seen one of the skits on SNL making fun of her constant mugging?

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 2:11pm

"Actually, a lot of people get mugging mixed up with "signaling". Signaling is when you tell the audience what you're about to do. "I'm getting ready to cry. Watch me cry."

Well, I know that I"m DEFINITELY not talking about Kathy Lee Gifford doing that. God, if HOda says something, Gifford will roll her eyes out of her head into the camera. oy vey

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 2:21pm

Kathy Lee's problem is that she doesn't know how to fit her performance to her co-host. She still thinks she's playing off of Regis where all those larger than life reactions worked in the context of relating to him.

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 5:07pm

Nope. I haven't seen a SNL skit about Kathy Lee, and I think the performance of a celebrity on TV on a talk show is not the same as the performance of an actor on stage.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/8/13 at 5:39pm

I thought we were answering the question which is the title of this thread -"what is mugging."

so whatever.